Metal Heart
by Saphira112
Summary: AU Roy Mustang, king of the eastern kingdom, apprehends a stray foreigner. The foreigner is not fully 'human'. Roy takes interest in this. What happens when everything becomes a "kill" or "be killed" situation? Roy/Ed, Al/Marta, others inside.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N:** Got this idea randomly after reading a Roy/Ed comic.

**Summary:** AU; Roy Mustang, king of the eastern kingdom, apprehends a stray foreigner. Oddly enough, the person isn't fully human. Roy takes interest.

**Pairings:** Roy/Ed and some others might pop up

**Warnings:** Shounen-ai/yaoi, swearing (from Ed, of course), and a random guy running around in a miniskirt (hey, you never know...)

**Key:**

'_Blah'_ – Thoughts

"Blah" – Talking

**Recommended listening:** _Voices in the Dark _by **Enigma**

Metal Heart

Chapter One

It was another day, just like before. The sun always glistened across the sea of the east, glittering white sparkles reflecting the one thing that gave the land warmth during the summer days. White clouds looking like goose-down pillows floated suspended in the bright blue sky. The grasslands fluttered their appreciation to the new day and trees swayed in the slight breeze that blew carelessly over the warm hills and down through the valleys. The hot sun beat down with golden rays. It was past dawn and into morning. Everything was lit and no shadows moved or showed themselves. Actually, there was _one_ shadow.

It was moving slowly, steeping carefully across the plains, swiftly and quietly through the tall brush and wheat fields. He was trespassing, he knew. And he knew he would be caught. But that was of little concern. He had a mission, a mission that would end in his death or end with what he wanted, what he had hoped to gain. He had already lost it twice because he had been reckless and stupid.

He wasn't going to lose it again. He brought up his left hand, bringing his hood down more over his head, hiding his hair and shadowing his eyes. His hand then fingered the cloak clasp he had, a red pendant in the shape of a cross, encircled by a long wire that went to the cross's sides, changing into wings with pointed black tips.

Yes, he wasn't going to lose again. Never again.

* * *

"Sir!" 

Onyx eyes lazily turned to rest on a figure to the right as long black bangs fell over the intense orbs. The figure was a woman, her long blonde hair tied back into a high bun with a spiky bang falling over her forehead. She wore something similar to a knight uniform, but instead of heavy armor, it was thick navy satin cloth over silver under armor, making it easier for her to move. Her quiver hung across her back, full of arrows and her bow was in her hand, resting at her side. She was a quick archer and she never missed.

"What is it, Hawkeye?"

She inclined her head forward once. "Lord Roy, we have discovered a trespasser in Tsuki-kage. He has no ID or any papers. We believe he could be a spy."

"Interesting," was the reply from the man sitting on the chair, cheek resting on his hand. He was adorned in a dark navy satin robe as well, but had flames stitched in along the bottom to make it look as if he walked through fire and he wore a ruby manacle around his waist. He wore two white gloves on his hands, both with the symbol of fire in the palm. The expression on the pale face seemed almost bored, but the coal eyes had lightened with this new prospect. "Bring him to me."

"Yes sire." Riza bowed once more before she turned to the five standing behind her. "Move out."

"Yes ma'am!" they replied in unison.

Riza glanced back at Roy, who had hardly moved. There was something about him today. He seemed off. It wasn't noticeable to the normal eyes, but Riza wasn't nicknamed "Hawkeye" for nothing. Roy seemed drained, tired, stressed and most of all, empty. At least this foreigner would liven a few things up, maybe even come in quietly and cooperate.

How wrong she was.

* * *

'_Shit, that was fast...'_

The shadow was running, running harder and faster than he ever had to dodge the rain of arrows that were coming from miles off and the guards far behind him that still insisted on running, despite their obvious sweat across their foreheads and the heavy armor that weighed them down.

'_Suckers,'_ the cloaked figure thought as he went left and right into the forest. The trees were dense, so most of the arrows could hardly get in past the foliage, much less hit him. He burst out on the south side of the forest. His cloak hood fell off. A sharp arrow that he had barely seen in time to dodge skimmed passed his cheek. A moment later, he could feel a warm trickle. He brought his hand over his head to bring his hood back over his eyes. Ignoring the blood, he began running again, towards the west. The grass barely moved, as he seemed to fly across it, his feet hardly touching the ground. He was almost free. Just a little more...

It was then that another arrow came within centimeters of his face. He skidded to a stop, kicking up a small cloud of dirt. Three more arrows, obviously shot from the same archer, came whizzing down faster than he could blink. Cursing under his breath, he slapped his hands together, concentrating with his mind as he bent the air and felt the circling power flow through his veins. He then slammed his hands against the ground, pouring out his energy and the dirt came up again, more solid this time, forming a wall around him to protect him from the barrage of arrows.

The arrows paused for a moment and he knew they were probably shocked at this sudden display of what he knew was called "magic" and "witchcraft". How wrong they were. All he had done was condense the materials in the ground, form them together and bring them out with the force of reverse-gravity, creating the protective wall. It was simple.

He tensed when he suddenly felt a cold blade against his throat. He didn't turn his head. The blade was too close; it would cut him. He wasn't going to die here, especially not like this.

"On your feet," was the commanding voice. A woman's voice. Smirking despite himself, he complied with the order, standing up in a single, fluid motion.

"Walk."

"I can gather what you want me to do, thanks," he said, his smirk plastered on his face under his cloak hood. His smirk vanished when the blunt side of the blade pressed deeper against his trachea, threatening to cut at the slightest wrong move.

"You better have your tongue trained for the king," was another voice, sounding oddly pleased despite the tiredness reflecting behind it. "He's not as merciful as others."

"I'll keep that in mind," the cloaked man murmured, tilting his head away from the knife at his throat to look at the kingdom walls he had traveled too close to. It was at least a good ten stories high, made completely of hard limestone and marble.

'_Probably with trace amounts of clay and iron,'_ he thought, musing over what he knew.

It was the outer wall of Tsuki-kage. The plains beyond it until the mountains were also part of the kingdom. Anyone traveling with an ID would be caught. The gates creaked open, the old wood doors rotting away already. _'Probably with the changing seasons, no doubt.'_

It was extravagant beyond the gates. Houses with people upon people spread across for what could be said to be five miles. Houses were painted in various blues and reds, most of the red paint looking like fire. Odd how the kingdom was named Tsuki-kage and yet the symbol was fire.

'_Moon shadow... shadows can be created by fire. The light from the fire spreads and anything solid in its path is burned. When it gets to something that can't be burned, like metal, it casts a shadow... Make sense.'_

Oddly enough, the palace was before the actually city and the small houses in front were for the guards. He felt a sharp tug, leading him up the long flight of stairs that were also made of marble. He had a moment to pause to touch the actual stone before he realized that it just had a marble tint to it, painted on with a pearl white color. It was actually old limestone. _'No wonder... marble is expensive these days.'_

Suddenly, a pressure placed itself in the back of his neck and shoulder and he would have cried out had his throat not closed. His lungs greedily took in what little air they were getting. His chest constricted and he brought his hand up to clutch it, fisting the front of his cloak. _'Dammit, not now!'_

His senses dulled and he felt himself hit the cold stone underneath him.

Darkness.

* * *

The next time he awoke, his cloak still on his body, two people, obviously two guards, were suspending him by his arms. He was obviously not being given medical help, despite the fact that it wouldn't have helped anyway. He groaned and shook his head, making sure his hood didn't fall off in the process as he tried to mentally wish away the knot that had formed between his eyes. Not that it would have mattered. He opened his eyes and realized he was in the grand hall of the palace. 

Brightly painted limestone glistened in the firelight from torches hung across the hallway. The floor was polished wood, covered by a single long rug made of satin, decorated in flames taking the shapes of horses as he galloped to the end of the hall. At said end, there sat a man, his features indefinable from where he was being held.

The guards realized he was awake and began walking, making sure to drag him as much as possible. He struggled against the hold, forgetting how he had been captured and that rewarded him with a kick in the back. He gritted his teeth so as to not shout out in pain as it raced up his spine. Instead, he shut his eyes, taking in a few calm breaths before he realized he was now standing at the foot of the three steps that led to the throne seat.

Under the hood, he glanced up to the man sitting on the throne. He was in his later twenties at the very least, had pale skin that made his deep coal eyes shoot out and capture attention. Short black hair fell over those eyes, making them give off a feel of alluringness.

"Remove his hood," the man commanded, nodding to the guards.

In a second, the hood came off and Roy was immediately transfixed by the site, so much so that he had to lean forward to get a better look. The tan face that was revealed shone in the torchlight. Two side-bangs painted gold fall right beside the pair of eyes, which were gold to match his hair, heart piercing and intense with anger. They were glaring at him in irritation, but what was so surprising was the fact that this was no man. It was a boy; a teenager. Roy noticed a faint glint of a ruby piercing on the teen's ear when he turned his head as he tried to pry himself out of the guards' grip.

"What is your name?" Roy asked, standing up.

The teenager shot him a hard look. "Give me yours and I'll give you mine." He was obviously hotheaded and didn't want to be there at the moment, but it was not as if he had a choice.

"How dare you speak to Lord Mustang that way!" shouted the guard to his right and went about to hit the teenager for his impudence, but it was dodged. The teen grabbed his arm and turned his feet expertly, flipping the man twice his size over his shoulder and against the hard stone. There was a pop as the guard's shoulder popped out of place.

There was a gasp from the guards, none of them believing that such a small teenager could flip over such a strong guard. One of the guards from earlier caught the teen by both hands, effectively stopping him, even as the boy kicked. Roy raised his eyebrows and descended the throne steps, walking up to the golden-haired teen. With a single gloved hand, he took the boy by the chin and titled his head to look him in the face. Piercing golden eyes, round like the sun, stared intensely into coal black that were narrowed like a river, looking somewhat empty.

"You know my name already. Tell me yours," he commanded.

"Who I am is none of your business!" the teen said, spitting in Roy's face. "And I'd go quietly if you'd let me, but nooooooo! You had to get your stupid guards to come get me when I have some place I need to be!"

"And where is that?" Roy asked as he wiped the spit from his face. He had never met someone this, someone who had dared go against him.

"It doesn't concern you," the teen muttered, turning his head away.

'_Doesn't concern me, hmm?'_ Roy would laugh if the situation were not so serious. A few of the guards had fainted over just the teen spitting in his face. How had he ever gotten hold of such girly staff? No offense to Hawkeye of course. _'This is getting very interesting...'_

"Look there!" One of the guards was pointing at the teen, or more specifically, something _under _the cloak. Roy tilted his head, trying to see what had captured his guard's attention and saw something gleam. Something metal.

"Remove your cloak," Roy ordered, putting his thumb and forefinger together.

"And if I refuse?" the teen asked, placing a hand on his hip. It was only now that Roy saw the braid behind the foreigner's head. It was long, just down to his middle back. Roy had never felt so amused.

"Then I guess I have no choice."

He snapped his fingers. Sparks shot out of his fingertips from nowhere and landed on the long brown cloak, traveling through the stitches, burning as it went. The teen growled and realizing that he would get severely burned, he unclasped the pendant from the middle of the cloak and shot out of it, holding onto the pendant like a lifeline before he stuck it into his pocket..

"You bastard," the teen growled as he stood staring at Roy from the man's left. It was then that the room fell silent. Not because of the teen's exclamation, but because of what was now revealed to their shocked eyes.

The teen was wearing black pants that had rips going down both pant legs, especially the left one. His top was a black leather tank top that had an imprint of white angel wings on the back. What was so shocking about his appearance were not his clothes, but his limbs. His left leg shone underneath the ripped pants, gleaming in the torchlight, showing off the fine metal plating. His right arm was completely metal from the end of his shoulder to his fingertips. There were scars showing underneath the tank top where the metal arm and his real shoulder connected. There was also a scar on his left arm from god only knows what, but that was minor compared to the metal plating that laughed happily in the torchlight.

"Are you happy now?" the teen asked, his hands, both real and metal, clenched into fists. His eyes seemed to have darkened and intensified so much that it made some of the guards shudder and begin to whisper in low tones.

"His arm... his leg, they're machines..."

"He's not human..."

"Aw, shut up, the lot of you," the teen growled. "I'm as human as any one of you." His metal arm cut through the air as he pointed at all the guards on the scene. "Are you so afraid of this?" He brought his metal arm up and fisted it. "Are you?!"

He was facing Roy now, eyes glaring, metal arm poised in front of him, showing it off to the king in front of him. "So are you afraid like the men you hide behind?"

The teenager was out of line and it was obvious, but no guard made a move to silence him. Roy blinked a moment between the metal limbs and the teenager's face. Judging by the scars, he hadn't lost his limbs through a defaulted birth. But were they scary? The strength of the metallic limbs was admirable, but did he fear them? Was he intimated by them?

"No."

Roy stared evenly with the teenager. The rich golden eyes didn't back down. They seemed to carry wisdom beyond their years, reflecting like a mirror of the knowledge he—Roy—already knew.

"However, I will apologize for earlier behavior," the king went on, tilting his head ever so slightly to look at the teen from another curving angle without being noticed. "I will ask you to stay here tonight to get refreshed before you continue on your journey tomorrow."

The teen suddenly blinked in surprise. He had definitely _not _expected that and Roy knew it. He gave the teenager a smile, which caused the boy to huff, cross his arms, metal over flesh, and look away. "I don't need your courtesy—"

"Then don't think of it like that," Roy said, diverting the conversation. "Hawkeye, see to it that this boy has suitable quarters on the fifth floor."

A woman dressed in light armory nodded and walked up to the braided teenager. She began to lead him away, down the hall. She noticed that the teenager looked away from each of the guard's gaping looks, as if trying to hide something private. Right when they were at the end of the hall, she noticed him stop, as if he had forgotten something. She looked back at him as he looked towards Roy, who had been watching them go.

Then...

"It's Ed."

Roy narrowed his eyes a little at the sudden revelation.

"My name is Ed."

**A/N: First chapter done. I hope I didn't make people too OOC. Haven't watched Fullmetal Alchemist in a while. Anyway, feedback is appreciated. Arigatou and ja ne for now!**

**Saphira Nakare Ruakara**


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary:** AU; Roy Mustang, king of the eastern kingdom, apprehends a stray foreigner. Oddly enough, the person isn't fully human. Roy takes interest.

**Pairings:** Roy/Ed and some others might pop up. (I'll take request pairings if anyone wants something to show up (But the pairing HAS to work. You HAVE to give me evidence it will work!) Otherwise, enjoy the loveliness of Roy/Ed)

**Warnings:** Shounen-ai/yaoi, swearing (from Ed, of course), and a random guy (cough Hughes cough) running around in a miniskirt (hey, you never know with him...)

**Key:**

_'Blah'_ – Thoughts

"Blah" – Talking

Recommended listening: _Reel Around the Sun_ performed by the **12 Girls Band**

Metal Heart 

Chapter Two

Roy let out a small sigh as he lit a candle on his workbench desk, looking over the document he was supposed to sign. Other lands were so demanding nowadays. First the limestone, then the wheat and now acres needed to be given off for new farmers. Roy let out another sigh as he took the pen and put his initials at the bottom. It wasn't too much. But it still didn't seem fair for his people.

Setting aside the document, Roy put his fingers to his temples, massaging them in order to rid himself of his headache that had formed with reading over the small font in the little light. He then entwined his fingers, eyes staring across the room as he began to think again.

_"It's Ed... my name is Ed." _

_'Ed, huh?'_ the king thought to himself. _'It's odd... and strangely fitting. His eyes say he's older than he looks.'_

And it was true. Seeing the teen with the cloak made Roy presume him to be at least fourteen years or age, considering the shortness. Seeing the teen without the cloak made him think again. Much older than fourteen. Perhaps sixteen or seventeen at the _very_ least. Then the eyes. Those harsh, golden eyes. They knew things beyond the teenager's years. They had seen more than their fair share of the reality of life. It was unthinkable and yet not very surprising.

_'He didn't put up much of a fight when Hawkeye escorted him out. And I haven't gotten any alarm that says he's run for it. So what holds him back?' _

"Hey, Mustaaannnggg!"

_'Oh, god no...' _

Roy turned around and his eyes widened at who was standing in the doorway. Of course, by voice Roy already knew it was Maes Hughes. But the way he was dressed... Roy didn't know whether to be amused or to be utterly disgusted. Hughes was leaning against the doorway, a grin on his face and he was dressed in the fine white tunic top made of cloth, button down with long sleeves. He wore his normal boots, as he was one of the knights, but between the shoes and the shirt was the tiniest skirt Roy had ever seen in his life. It was barely enough to cover Hughes and that alone was a scary image.

"What the hell are you wearing?!" Roy asked, making a note to never let Hughes come in unannounced ever again. He was sure he was scarred for life.

"Oh, isn't it just great?" Hughes asked, doing a small twirl, one leg propped up off the ground. "Little Elysia made it for me! She's almost a teenager and she can sew like her mom! She made this for me and I feel so happy with it on! It's not normally my thing, but oh, happy day!"

Hughes began to prance around, skipping with his legs high in the air, making Roy turn away with disgust. God, now he _knew_ he was scarred for life. "Will you take that offending piece of clothing off?"

"B-but Elysia made it for me! It's special!"

Roy groaned and smacked his head. How did this ditzy kind of man _ever_ get to be his commanding knight? How? His eyes narrowed almost comically as Hughes set a hand on his head with a grin. Roy felt a vein on his head throb and he put his thumb and forefinger together. "You have three seconds to let go, Hughes."

"Relax, I'm just playing with you," Hughes replied and he sighed as he backed off. "So what's the scoop on the kid staying here?"

Roy glanced back at the knight, looking into the eyes that had once been playful now narrowed in curiosity. Roy shrugged and went back to facing his desk. "Nothing really. Just a traveler. He'll be out by tomorrow."

"Oh, that's too bad. Where's he staying?"

"Why do you want to know? Going to go scar him for life, too?" Roy shot back, slightly irritated.

Hughes held up his hands in his defense. "No, just wanted to talk. See what's so interesting that allowed him to stay in the city, more so in _here_, the palace itself, a place where anyone in the city would die just to spend a few hours in." Hughes tapped the wall in front of Roy to prove his point, causing Roy to smirk a little.

"He's interesting," Roy finally admitted after a few moments of silence. "His right arm and left leg are made completely of metal."

Hughes dropped his hand. "Automail?"

Roy nodded almost solemnly. "Right. And he flipped Heymans Breda right over his head like it was nothing."

" Breda?! You're kidding, right?"

"Does it look like I'm joking? Anyway, I've allowed him to stay tonight."

"So you've taken interest in him."

"You could say that. It's not every day you come across a superhuman."

"Hmm..."

Hughes leaned against the wall, tapping his chin thoughtfully. All thoughts of his daughter aside and he began concentrating on Roy. Something was weird about this. Roy had been somewhat depressed as of late and now this traveler shows up and Hughes had never seen Roy's eyes so alive.

"Looks like more than mild interest if you ask me," the knight commented, earning him a glare.

"Do you want to be fried shish cabob?" Roy asked in a testy voice, his fingers poised again.

"So it's true, then?" Hughes was grinning, his "I-know-I'm-right-and-you-can't-deny-it" grin that made a gleam reflect in his eyes.

Roy put his hand back down and sighed. He wasn't even bothering trying to deny it. It was something more than interest, but it was too early to think like that. He just wanted to know how Ed got metal limbs. That was all.

"Well, whatever it is, good luck with it," Hughes said, his hand waving the air as he walked back towards the door. "I'll search the place for the kid; see if I can't get a chat with him."

"He's down three doors to the left." Roy didn't turned around, even as Hughes did to give him a stare before grinning again.

The door closed and Roy's room was thrown into silence. He folded his hands and placed his forehead on them, closing his eyes. Why was he suddenly taking interest in this boy?

...Why?

* * *

Ed took the cloth and wiped it slowly across his arm. It was beginning to rust a little, so he just used the small packet of metal shiner he had been given before he set out and used the cloth to rub it down. Now it shone in the soft moonlight as nightfall approached quickly, throwing the room he was staying in into almost complete darkness. He stood up and lit a few torch lamps in the room to give off a nice glow. It reminded him somewhat of home, but not as extravagant. Nor did home feel this nice.

The room was nice, a large master room with a king sized mattress to boot. It was covered in dark navy blue silk sheets, but the pillows were purple and had the same flaming horses running across the bottom in the strange, intricate pattern as the one in the great hall two levels down. It was four-poster, of course, and had satin drapery around it colored a rich ruby red, the same color as fire itself. The carpet was a grey-blue color, much softer than the intense blue and red colors. The bed frame was made of oak wood, with trace amounts of polish refinery, a highly supporting wood material. The room also had a nightstand to match the bed, along with a walk-in closet.

The bathroom was just as big as the room itself, with a double shower (the room was obviously made for couples, he noted) and a large bathtub able to support two people. Ed shuddered to think of what people had done in this room, but then realized that the sheets were brand new, as if they hadn't been used in ages; he could tell because they weren't wrinkled at all and their original compound was still in place rather than be rubbed off by people. Even the tile counter of the bathroom was spotless. This room hadn't been used in what looked like ever, if at all.

Last, but not least, there was a balcony behind two glass doors. The balcony was bigger than a stand still slab of wood. There was a good ten feet across in width and five feet up with a railing made of oak. The designs going down the railing support beams were the same red horses, but this time painted, not stitched or drawn.

Ed walked out onto the balcony, crouching down fluidly, his metal and resting on the ground as an extra support beam as his golden eyes grazed over the artistic design. If he stared long enough, his eyes betrayed him and made the horses come alive, their flaming manes roaring up across the wooden carvings, jumping over the green painted vines that got in their way. Each time Ed blinked, the horses froze, as if knowing they were being watched, and then began their dance again across the endless wooden beam.

"Like the art?"

Ed suddenly jumped up and whirled around, shoulders tense and eyes focusing on the where the voice had come from. Someone was leaning against his open door, grinning in the soft glow of the room. Ed relaxed as the person didn't attack him or make a move to hurt him and he put his arms down. "Who're you?"

"Name's Hughes. I take it you like the art?" the person replied, insisting on taking Ed back to the previous question.

Ed blinked a moment before he nodded slightly and glanced back at it. "I've seen it all around this place; in the halls, in the rooms..." He paused for a moment before glancing across the room. "...but oddly enough, not in the bathrooms."

The man, Hughes, laughed from his position by the doorway. He seemed quite amused by the simple thinking. "You can't combine fire and water, now can you? What would that make? Steam!" The man was grinning, a sharp edge to his eyes.

"A conflict," Ed said, despite the fact that Hughes had already answered it simply. Ed turned to the railing again, tracking one of the horses with his finger. "Water is one oxygen molecule and two hydrogen molecules fused together. Fire is an exothermic, self-sustaining, oxidizing chemical that produces energy when met with the right chemical fuel to and oxygen to keep it going. When fire meets water, humidity levels rise and the water becomes gas. It's a conflict that doesn't die out right away."

Hughes whistled. "You sure know your elements. Maybe you can teach me about earth and air sometimes."

Ed cracked a small smile. "That's harder. There's more material to work with and isn't as simple as water and fire."

"Hmm, that's true. Say, what's your name?"

"Ed."

"Ed, huh? Well, Ed, I got a question." The eyes intensified.

Ed stiffened slightly. "What?"

Hughes smirked once before suddenly his smirk turned to a grin and he popped out into the middle of the room, bringing one leg up and doing a small twirl in the full light from the candles and small torch lamps. "Don't you just love what my little daughter made for me? She's only just learned how to sew, but she's already so good!"

Ed was thoroughly shocked by what he was seeing. A man, a serious man who had come to talk to him... was no more than a man with an obsession... and wearing an extremely tight mini-skirt. The obsession alone was freaky, but the mini-skirt... Ed smacked his head with his left hand and covered his eyes. He knew he was scarred for life... god... "Did your master tell you to wear that?"

Hughes almost giggled at that. "No, I was just wore it because my lovely little daughter made it! I'm so proud of her."

"Yeah, well, no offense, but it doesn't suit a man like you," Ed semi-complimented, uncovering his eyes. "Seems too... feminine. Then again, with that prance, I think I might take back what I said..."

Hughes straightened with his normal cheery grin. "Hey, don't get too comfortable here. It's not everyday Mustang lets a traveler stay in the kingdom, much less the palace."

Ed huffed and crossed his arms, metal over flesh. "I know that. I already told him I didn't need his courtesy."

"Ah, but you must be grateful if you told him your name," Hughes commented, tapping Ed's forehead. Ed's right arm immediately snapped out and caught Hughes' wrist. The man whistled again. "Fast reflexes you got there. Automail?"

Ed blinked. "You're not afraid?" Well, this was a first.

"Of course I am, but at the same time, I'm fascinated," was the reply as Hughes retracted his hand through Ed's slackened grip. "If you don't mind me asking, what happened to your old limbs? By the scars, they weren't the cause of a default birth."

Ed crossed his arms again and turned his head towards the wall of Tsuki-kage, trying to find something else to look at. "It's kind of private."

"Ah, no worries," Hughes chuckled, leaning against the railing, looking out with the teen. It was quiet for a moment, as the world had suddenly stopped turning and the crickets had vanished off the face of the earth. And then time picked up again when Ed broke the silence with a soft sigh.

" Roy's taken interest in you" Hughes commented, trying to liven up the awkward situation.

Unfortunately, he only succeeded in making Ed in blink in confusion as a small blush spread across his cheeks. "Huzzawha? Why?"

Hughes shrugged. "I dunno, but he was thinking quite a bit when I went to talk to him. And I've never seen him act like that before."

Ed turned his head away again, huffing at a stray bang that fell down in front of his eyes before a sarcastic smile pulled at his lips as he began to state the obvious. "Whatever! It doesn't matter to me. I'm outta here in the morning anyway and—"

Ed suddenly stopped. A sharp pain had assaulted his shoulder bade and his neck and was pressing deeper into his skin, with more force than before. His chest constricted and his right hand came up to grip it, the cold metal feel sinking through his thin tank top and hitting his sensitive skin. Ed shut his eyes tightly, gritting his teeth to hold back a gasp of pain that would cost him more breath than he was getting, which wasn't very much at all. _'Not again!'_

He felt the cold limestone underneath him for the second time that day. He could hear a voice calling him, worried and aware; panicky.

"Ed? Ed!"

_'I can't breathe...' _

"ED!"

Darkness fell again.

**A/N: Chapter two done. Hee, I hope no one's gonna chew me out for the whole mini-skirt thing. I don't hate Hughes (I actually love him to itty bitty bits) but he just seemed like the guy random enough to do it, so I figured "Eh, why not?" **

**I hope this chapter was worth the wait (although it might take me a wee bit longer to update. Taking two AP classes this year... murder...) and I also hope nothing was too OOC. Ja ne for now! **

**Saphira Nakare Ruakara**


	3. Chapter 3

**To LivingDeadgirl:** For you information, _my dear, _I have watched all 51 episodes and the 2 OVAs. My apologies if it doesn't live up to _your _standards, but I believe I stated this was my _first _FMA story. Also, this is ALTERNATE UNIVERSE. That's why the original plot line IS NOT in here. If you're complaining about that or the pairing or anything else pertaining, you're just sad. I don't care what you say about my fic, cause I'm continuing it whether you like it or not. Don't like? Don't read! I'm not the best FMA fanfic writer out there and I DID ask for feedback, (not flames). I'm not asking you to like what I write (not even this fic), but others do seem to enjoy it and there's the reason I'm not discontinuing it. I am _not _changing this story for _you_. Oh, and one more thing. You couldn't even give me a reply link to your review OR show me you could write any better. Such cowardice. I suppose you're so proud of yourself, _little girl_. Also, if you're complaining so much and think it sucks so much, why did you even bother clicking on the link the the story?

**To GreedxEd:** You were the one that requested the Alphonse/Martel pairing. Thanks for the idea. Although I did say was planning on it (since you requested it), I'm not sure if I can get Martel In-Character and if I can, thank god. Be sure to tell me and provide me with great feedback! Though she and AL might not come in until chapter five or something. Please be patient! (And knowing me, I'll put an angst spin-off of it...)

**To all my other reviewers:** Thank you so much for reviewing and enjoying my fic, even if it does seem OOC here and there. I hope I can continue to write this the way you people have already seen it and possibly better. Thanks to all of you again! (Except LivingDeadgirl. You're just pathetic)

**Summary:** AU; Roy Mustang, king of the eastern kingdom, apprehends a stray foreigner. Oddly enough, the person isn't fully human. Roy takes interest.

**Pairings:** Roy/Ed, side Alphonse/Martel (I'll take request pairings now if anyone wants something to show up)

**Warnings:** Shounen-ai/yaoi, swearing (from Ed, of course), and Hughes running around in a miniskirt every now and then (hey, you never know with him...)

**Key:**

_'Blah'_ – Thoughts

"Blah" – Talking

Recommended listening: _Now We Are Free_ by **Enya**

Metal Heart 

Chapter Three

Everything was dark, darker than even the deepest blue-black veils of nights, darker than the dungeon—which he had felt more than once—darker and colder than anything he had ever felt.

Was this death?

No, death was not like this. Death was light and simple, a quick thrust of a sword through the beating essence of a human or alchemy tearing apart from the inside, bottom to up.

It wasn't slow like this.

Death was quick, coming and going out faster than the speed of sound, his work done and his identity remaining hidden behind a mask of a skull. Death knew his job and did it well. He was avoiding this job, however.

It was not death.

So, then...

Why did it feel so empty?

* * *

"What do you mean he collapsed?!" Roy was on his feet in an instant, hands balling into fists. Many were intimidated by Roy's anger that was a front for his worry and concern, but not Maes Hughes. He stood firm in front of his master and nodded slowly. 

"The kid was talking about how he'd leave tomorrow and then suddenly collapsed," Hughes stated plainly, shoving a hand into his pocket. After he had helped Ed to the infirmary, he had changed his pants before appearing to Roy again and explaining everything. It was more decent and showed he was now dead serious. "Problem is, everything about him checks out. No weak lungs, no heart failure, no disconnection between his nerves and his automail... everything seems normal. At least as normal as it would be for a kid with two limbs made of metal."

Roy let out a small sigh and walked to the door, stopping next to Hughes, facing the wall of the hallway. "Could it be stress?"

Hughes shook his head. "I don't think so. He seemed pretty carefree when I talked to him. And more than that, he was smart. He mentioned things he probably would never say in a normal conversation."

"Such as?"

"The components of water and fire. He noticed the difference between the fire bedroom and the water bathroom."

"Smart kid."

"Well, now he's a smart, _bed-ridden_ kid," Hughes corrected him. Despite how things were checking out normally, it wouldn't be a bad thing to put Ed under some surveillance to check for changes. He'd need Roy to approve of that idea or say it himself, although the former happened more often than not than the latter did...and since Roy hardly ever agreed to anything... well, that was another story entirely.

"I'm going to go see what's going on," Roy finally said. "This is the second time this has happened."

"When was the first?"

"Just outside the grand hall gate. He collapsed. Hawkeye thought it was tiredness from running, so we didn't see to any medical needs."

"Well now you know what a stupid-ass decision that was."

Roy felt a vein throb on his head and instead of commenting, he walked out of the room and down the hall. The infirmary was on the fourth floor, so thankfully it was just below Ed's room. Roy glanced at the wall paintings as he passed, watching as the flaming horses painted in red and gold raced with him to the infirmary. He hadn't realized he had been running until he found himself outside the infirmary, panting slightly. Regaining his composure, he opened the door slowly. The infirmary room was dark and the nurses had obviously turned in for the night, only to be awakened early the next morning or in the middle of the night by set alarms should a patient become worse. There were ten beds all aligning one wall. The one by the window as the only one occupied and Roy automatically headed towards it.

Roy stopped at the side of the bed, gazing down at the unconscious teenager. The nurses had undone the long braid, so now it spread across the pillow like a golden halo. The face seemed to be contorted in pain, but the pressure was easy over his eyes, so it was probably just a nightmare. It was highly likely.

Roy's eyes swept over what else he could see; the moonlight shone in from the window, making the automail arm shine silver instead of a semi-polished grey that had been so accustomed to people's eyes. The boy's tank top had been removed, showing off the strong torso hidden underneath in the boy of a child. There were a few scars where the automail attached, now more visible, but for some reason, they seemed so natural. The sun-kissed face looked slightly darker in the moonlight, but also ethereal, as if he had fallen from the skies on broken wings. He was beautiful.

Roy brought his hands up and slowly, almost hesitantly, removed the glove from his right hand. He never knew how exposed his hand could feel without the glove on. Ignoring that fact, he brought his bare hand down and ever so slightly flicked one of Ed's bangs. It fell back across the teenager's eyes and Roy gently pushed it away again.

Roy froze as Ed groaned and turned away at the touch, the tissue around his eyes clenching tighter, as if the touch had painted him. But it wasn't the touch, as Roy soon found it. Whatever he was seeing behind those closed eyelids was scaring his life from him.

"...sorry..."

Roy blinked and looked down at Ed, making no noise, wanting to hear what the teenager was saying to whatever illusion he was seeing.

"I'm sorry... so sorry..."

Following that small voicing was a crystalline tear rolling down Ed's cheek and disappearing behind his ear. The automail hand also seemed to feel tactile human feelings and clenched the bed sheets like a lifeline. Then the hand unclenched and Ed was back to sleeping normally again. Roy stared down at the boy for another few minutes before he decided it was best to go.

A glint caught his eye.

Roy walked to the nightstand next to the bed and picked up the shining object. T was a pendant. Looking at it in the moonlight reminded Roy of earlier, when he had burned Ed's cloak and the teenager had unclasped something from it. This was probably it.

_'How odd,'_ he thought, looking it over. It was in the shape of a red cross with a snake encircling around it and the tips of the cross sides formed two wings that were black at the tips. _'Never seen anything like this before.'_

Another groan broke Roy from his thoughts and his eyes immediately went to Ed. The boy was stirring. He was waking up. Roy held the pendant in his gloved hand while he hid the other one at his opposite side, where Ed wouldn't notice.

Golden orbs opened and shone against the silvery moon rays and the teen blinked a few times, as if trying to figure out where he was. He obviously didn't recall the plain white decoration of the infirmary wing. Already slightly panicky, the boy shot up, the bed sheet falling down to reveal more of his thin, but obviously strong abdomen. He looked to the window first before his golden eyes went to land on Roy.

"Where am I?"

Of course, like every person who had a black-out and came to somewhere new, the first things out of their mouth was that question. Roy expected it.

"You're in the hospital wing on the fourth level. You blacked out," Roy said tersely, his finger absentmindedly stroking the pendant in his hand.

Ed looked at the king for a moment before he realized what he was holding. "Hey, give that back!"

The teen made a grab for it and was easily held back by Roy's free hand. Growling, Ed shot forward with his metal hand and grabbed Roy's wrist tightly, squeezing in an attempt to make him release the object. Roy didn't show the pain was that was beginning to race up his arm, but instead stared at Ed, looking at his angry golden eyes. No one he had ever met had stood up to him like this; much less hurt him in a way that was beginning to show.

He released the pendant and Ed caught it with his free hand while his other one released Roy's own. Ed looked at the pendant for a moment, his gold eyes reflecting something like a feeling of lost before they were normal again; it must have been a trick by the moonlight. Ed clutched the pendant tightly in his hand, as if treasuring the old red metallic piece of art.

"Ed, why did you black out?" Roy asked, leaning against the wall by the bed. He had replaced his glove back on his hand and crossed his arms, looking at the blonde teenager, expecting an answer.

"It doesn't matter," Ed muttered, turning away from the intense black gaze.

"It does while it goes on under this roof."

"Then I'll leave and won't trouble you any longer," Ed said, almost sarcastically, but he made a move to stand up to prove he was being serious. His eyes moved to focus on the door.

Roy shook his head. "You're in no condition to be going anywhere. If Hughes hadn't been there, you probably could have died."

"And how do you know that?!" Ed turned to face Roy again, gold eyes once more glaring at the king. "You don't know anything about me, so quite presuming like you're all high and mighty and know everything! Just shut up and keep outta my business!"

An uncomfortable silence swept into the room after the vicious outburst and Roy just stood, almost stunned. Never before had he had to deal with such a rebellious boy. Even orphans and war-haters in the city _combined _didn't rebel as much in one year as this teenager had done in just a few seconds.

"Is there a reason you act this way?" Roy asked, changing tactics. "Is it to protect you or to get yourself killed?"

"I don't give a damn either way," Ed admitted, his eyes remaining harsh, even as he didn't face the black-haired man.

"So you don't have anything to fight for in life, is that it?"

Ed whirled around; making a move to punch the man, but his wrist was caught almost faster than he could blink. Coal eyes burned into deep gold, searching for something, weaving past the gleaming maze beyond the golden veil. Ed almost flinched at the look. It seemed almost... desirable...

Ed reared back and pulled his hand free, giving Roy the strangest look. The king recovered quickly and asked, "What do you fight for?" as if nothing had just happened.

"I fight for me. And my brother. Not that you would understand," Ed replied, taking a step back, arms crossed.

"_Why_ do you fight?"

"What do you mean 'why do I fight'?! That's like asking your soldiers why they fight for you!"

"I'm asking why you fight for your brother?"

"That's a dumb question. I care about him... and because I'm the only one who will," Ed said quietly, but angrily, and remembering. He knew why he had to fight, he knew what he was fighting for and he knew how to fight to win. That was all he needed to know. It wasn't so much a military attitude, but a cocky attitude that had somehow managed to get him out of worse situations than this before.

Roy decided to get back the matters at hand. "I'm going to ask you again, Ed. Why did you collapse?"

Ed gave him a look that clearly said that he wasn't going to answer, but at Roy's glare, the teenager sighed, reaching back and pulling his hair together, beginning to braid it. "It's just an infection. It'll clear up."

Roy raised his eyebrows. "What infection makes a teenager pass out? Be more creative, Ed."

"I'm not making it up, Mr. I'm-All-High-and-Mighty, and for your information, it's an incurable bacteria," Ed ground out, tying the end of his braid while his bangs fell forward. "It takes a strong immune system. I have one. I'm not going to die."

"How do you know that for sure?"

"Because I've lasted this long! Besides, if I could handle two automail limbs, I can handle this..." Ed suddenly trailed off as he realized what he was saying. "Besides, they're working on a cure now."

"Who's 'they'?"

"You bore me," Ed grumbled, turning to the window. He found his tank top folded beside the bed and picked it up, unfolding it and slipping it on. His right arm made a few noises as it slipped through the hole. Ed shook his braid out of it and cracked his neck a few times and exercising his right arm, just to make sure it didn't cramp.

"Tell me something Ed."

"What is it now?"

"When did you get the infection?"

Ed frowned. He turned to face the black-haired man. He didn't normally admit to this, but... it wouldn't kill him to say, right? Besides, he was stronger than he looked. Ed let out a sigh before he looked dead-on into the coal eyes a few feet away from him. Gold eyes leveled as they remembered. Then Ed spoke.

"When I got my automail."


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N:** To all the other readers and reviewers (who are great), I was at Nan Desu Kan this weekend! And it ruled! I went as Hisoka Kurosaki on Friday, Duo Maxwell on Saturday, and Wufei Chang on Sunday. I got lots of manga and got to see the winners of the cosplay contest. Wanna know what they did? They dressed up as Ed Elric and Roy Mustang in MINISKIRTS and danced to the "I'm a Barbie Girl" song. Look for it on Youtube! It's awesome! And I got hit with a Yaoi Paddle... nine times. Once on the back of the legs and once on my lower back (they missed) and finally, seven times, ALL HARDCORE, in the right place. It was fun. OH! And I hugged a gigantic panda! Yay! But anyway! Enough stalling! I got around to working on this (I've gotten all my grades up by now) and so I hope this was worth the wait!

**Summary:** AU; Roy Mustang, king of the eastern kingdom, apprehends a stray foreigner. Oddly enough, the person isn't fully human. Roy takes interest.

**Pairings:** Roy/Ed, side Alphonse/Martel (I'll take request pairings now if anyone wants something to show up)

**Warnings:** Shounen-ai/yaoi, swearing (from Ed, of course), and Hughes running around in a miniskirt every now and then (hey, you never know with him...) and the new "Oh-my-god-I-can-write-straight-pairings" factor

**Key:**

'_Blah'_ – Thoughts or Dreams

"Blah" – Talking

**Recommended listening:** _Essex_ by Mediaeval Baebes

Metal Heart

Chapter Four

"When I got my automail."

Roy stood there for a moment, contemplating on the answer. Something just didn't fit right. He didn't say how or exactly when, but a virus getting inside of him just seemed too unlikely from a logical standpoint. Hospitals were cleaned down to the tiniest crack. How could a virus, much less a bacterium, get inside his body while being given limbs? It just didn't add up.

It must've reflected on his face because Ed sighed and shook his head. He hadn't want to delve this deep into it, but if he didn't, he would be kept awake all night by this pompous bastard king who didn't get it. "They classify it as an incurable virus, but it's only a psychological thing. Now drop it, all right?"

Roy tapped his chin. "So you say it's a mental illness?"

"No! Just drop it, all right? It'll go away at some point," Ed muttered, unbraiding and re-braiding his hair, if only to have something to do and avoid Roy's intense gaze.

"And if it doesn't? What will you do?" Roy asked somewhat testily. "You said it's psychological."

"It is. Now will you shut up about it?"

Now _that_ was no way to talk to a king or even someone of higher status. "You're quite cocky for such a small child."

That, apparently, was the wrong thing to say. The next words that came out of Ed's mouth seemed to echo off the walls, sweeping throughout what felt like the entire city.

"WHO'RE YOU CALLING SO SMALL AND TINY THAT HIS COCKINESS IS THAT OF A SHRIMP TO A SQUID?!"

Roy let out a small, barely audible, amused chuckle. "I didn't say any of that, Ed."

Ed huffed and turned around, making a grab for his cloak before he realized it was back in the room he had been told to stay in. "Damn."

"Looking for something?" Roy asked, hand under his chin as his eyes gleamed in amusement.

"Not really," Ed replied, somewhat distracted as he glanced to the window. He caught the amused gaze and turned back around, glaring. "Will you stop staring?"

"I'm surprised, Ed," Roy commented, straightening and not answering the teen's question. "You haven't once riled against me to get out of here. What's stopping you?"

"None of your business. I know my place."

"Is that so? Well, then you won't mind if I accompany you out of the city on your journey."

"WHAT!?"

Roy raised an eyebrow, mind thinking rapidly about a way to keep this teenager in his sight. Why, he didn't know. But he didn't really care. "You said you knew your place. If that's so, you'll follow under my eye."

"I don't need to be baby-sat!" Ed protested, eyes narrowing. "Besides, you have a kingdom to run!"

"I never said you did. And being a king means to watch over the people in his land. Every single one of them," the ruler retorted smoothly. "And due to this law, I think I may have a proposition for you, Ed."

Ed hesitated. _'Where is this going?'_ "I may as well hear you out. What is it?"

"You fall under my ten-year command and you'll have free passage anywhere, complete with supplies and funding."

Ed's eyes widened. Why in the bloody hell had he offered something that gave him so much for a simple ten-year pact? Wait a minute… "You want me to become one of your toadies?! I don't think so! I can manage by myself, thank you very much!"

"Oh, isn't that a shame?" Roy exclaimed aloud, throwing his hands up what seemed like mock-defeat. "Rejecting an offer only made for other kings and higher knights is such a dishonor." Roy tapped his chin, a small grin on his face while he began to think aloud. "I believe there's a law in court that says if it is rejected, the person rejecting it can be court marshaled…"

Ed growled, hands clenching into fists. So that was it. Roy had cornered him. Ed knew there was a reason he hated this land. The laws were full of crap and it was treason if you tried to escape from them. But Ed had no intention of giving in that easily. He had a mission and damn whoever got in his way. "You think I'm going to give in with that threat? Screw you!"

Roy raised his other eyebrow, the grin never leaving his face. "Is that so? Then I'm afraid we'll be delaying your journey for a while."

Roy shrugged once and turned around, intent on leaving the room. He knew he had trapped Ed perfectly, even if it hadn't worked as successfully. The teenager still wasn't going out of his sight. He smirked to himself before he hid it and placed his hand on the doorknob. Just as he turned it and opened the door a crack, he heard that voice again.

"Wait."

Roy paused in exiting the room and instead turned around, making sure the smirk didn't show up on his face. He could not, however, keep the amused tone out of his voice. "Do you need something?"

Ed didn't meet his gaze and instead stared at the floor. He seemed to be having an inner battle with himself, neither winning, but neither losing. Fire and ice clashed, melting or cooling, trying to find a compromise within themselves.

"I'll do it." The teenager's fists clenched, as if the decision was paining him. "I'll let you come."

Roy raised an eyebrow, but kept his victorious smile away. He would save that for later. "All right, then. Be packed and ready at mid-day." And with that, Roy left the room, finally letting the smirk on his face form.

Ed felt his knees—both the real one and the metallic one—give out underneath him and he sank to the floor, his fists clenching even more as he gripped something unseen across the tile floor. Ed inwardly cursed himself, his eyes narrowing. It couldn't be like this. _'Dammit!'_

* * *

_He was dreaming again. Dozens upon dozens of fiery shapes blurred around him, galloping across the dirt under his feet, surrounding him in the circle of an eternal, burning dance, closing in and then backing away. The horses teased, throwing their proud heads back, hooves digging their flames into the ground, starting up new dance steps and smoldering past the old ones. They were circling around him and a shadow in front of him. The shadow was hardly moving, but the slight swaying showed the little life it had in it. It swayed the opposite direction of the fiery horses, avoiding the closest contact. A glimmer shone each time one of the horses got near and it made him curious as to what it was. What was this shadow made of?_

_He stalked over to it, one of the horses following him from behind like a loyal servant. He reached down and grasped the top of the shadow's head. But it wasn't a shadow at all. He had grasped the top of the hooded cloak; his gloved hands clenching the silken fabric tightly before it fell away, revealing the figure underneath. The flashes of metal against the flame and the long blonde hair were too familiar._

"_Ed?" His voice was scratchy, just realizing the flames around them had made his voice quieter and more hoarse. _

_The blonde teenager looked up at him and he felt himself drowning, drowning into the pool of gold that held a mixture of trepidation and confusion, a look he had never seen on the boy since his arrival. He could see his own reflection within them, his own bewilderment smirking back at him, taunting him as the teenager seemed to shrink back from him in what would be considered a child's fear. _

_He reached out to the blonde teenager and was rewarded with only another foot between them. "Ed?"_

_The boy, who neither responded nor showed signs of surrendering, was backing up too far. The horses hadn't once paused their flaming dance around the pair and were throwing their heads back again with loud neighs, not caring where their hooves stepped and who they crushed. One of the horses veered off course and charged, head bowed, at the frozen teen on the ground. The alchemist wasn't moving._

"_Ed!"_

_He saw it in slow motion, one foot at a time, the fiery mane on the horse's neck swiping through the air, cutting it and feeding off the oxygen. And just as he called out to Ed, the teen turned to see the horse and shock filled the twined golden orbs just before the horse charged straight through his small, defenseless body..._

Roy sat up with a jolt, coal eyes wide and his breathing irregular; he was panting, his white knuckles gripping the bed sheets that had been over him during his rest. Roy reached up and ran a hand through his short hair, attempting to regulate his breathing. His other free hand went to his chest, clutching the area tightly before he was able to take in a deep breath and relax.

Roy's hand drifted down from his head and instead over his eyes, dispelling the last of the flames he had just seen and instead tried to rid his body from the heat and flood it with the cold of the darkness around him.

'_It's still burning,'_ he thought, uncovering his eyes, the coal orbs flickering in the moonlight. He hadn't had that dream in a while. It had always confused him. He had tried time and time again to figure out the meaning behind the flaming horses that always galloped across his field of vision each night that the nightmare returned. What made it ever more confusing was the fact that Ed was in it. Ed. In his dream. How was that even remotely possible? The boy had just shown up and now Roy's nightmare had returned. What did it mean?

What_ could_ it mean?

* * *

"My care is like my shadow 

Laid bare beneath the sun.

It follows me at all times

And flies when I pursue it.

I freeze and yet am always burned

Since from myself again I turn.

I love and yet am forced to hate.

I seem stark mute; inside I prate…"

The voice of a certain blonde carried over the courtyard, entrancing a few of the soldiers stationed at the entrances and exits across the garden. One of the maids made a small satisfied sigh at the voice and watched the owner strode across the paved sidewalk, hands in pockets—both metal and flesh—and the soft tune that used the wind as its guide. She bowed absentmindedly when he walked close to her before she blushed and went about retrieving fruit.

Ed shrugged at the gesture before he walked back across the garden he had come from. There was another maid—obviously a maid by the clothes—who was gathering fruit from another tree while two children played around her; one boy and one girl. It was obvious she was the mother of the children. They were similar clothes to her, but the outfit on the boy's body consisted of a blue tunic top and brown pants. The colors of the earth and water, Ed noted.

The girl, her long brown hair tied back into two long braids, suddenly stopped chasing what Ed guessed to be her brother and instead hopped up on an uprooted part of the tree, trying to reach up and get the apple above. She tried jumping and fell down once before she returned to the standing position, her tiny arms trying to grasp the fruit just a foot above her. Her brother watched and seemed to be laughing at her futile attempts. The mother was turned the other away, ignoring them.

Ed shrugged to himself and walked over. The girl stopped reaching for the apple and gave the teen a look, as if wondering if he came from nowhere. Ed gave her a small smile. "Hey, what's your name?"

The girl returned the smile and jumped off the tree root. "My name's Nina. What's yours, big brother?"

"My name's Ed," the teen replied, patting her head. "So what were you doing?"

"Trying to help get the apples," Nina exclaimed, pointing to the tree in which she had tried to take the fruit from.

"Here, lemme help you." Fluidly, in one graceful movement, Ed reached up from the tree root and grabbed not one, but three apples from the same branch, all red in ripeness. He handed them to Nina, who gasped in surprise and giggled before running with them over to the maid. The maid looked surprised for a moment before she smiled down at Nina, who returned it.

Nina then ran back over to Ed's side and hugged his leg—thankfully not the metal one, because that would've been hard to explain. "Thank you, big brother!"

"It was nothing," Ed said, smiling despite himself. "So is that your mother?"

Nina shook her head and Ed knew it was the wrong to ask because that innocent smile fell into a lonely frown. "Mommy had to leave somewhere. She called my dad a worthless alca-whatty and weft. Daddy's always busy with stuffs, too..."

"Well, I'm sorry, Nina," Ed said gently, patting her head with his left hand. "I have to go somewhere, too."

"Will you come back, big brother?" Nina's hopeful eyes didn't want Ed to deny it.

"Yeah, I will."

"Don't forget!" Nina put out her pinky. Ed stared at it for a moment before he entwined his pinky and shook on it. Her smile made him feel a little guiltier about it, but who knows? Maybe he would come back to this place...

* * *

"Where is he?" 

Roy was annoyed. He had gone to retrieve Ed from the infirmary, but hadn't seen him there, so he had decided to check the boy's quarters. All Roy had found was the bed neatly made, the room spotless as it had been, and nothing left behind; not even the red cloak. He knew Ed couldn't have run off without the guards on alert.

Roy walked out onto the balcony and looked down below, trying to focus on the wind to calm his nerves. But it wasn't the wind that made his irritation dispel from his mind. No. It was the fact that he saw a familiar blonde walking outside in the courtyard, waving to a girl—Nina her name was—running off after one of the maids. So that's where the boy was. Interesting.

And then he heard it. The balcony wasn't too far up, so any noise below, even a footstep was heard, but there was still about a story between the balcony and the ground. Had Roy not been focusing on the teenager, he never would've heard it. It was the voice he had heard not hours before, filled with anger and rage. Now it carried gentleness to it, a soft tone he never would've guessed the boy to use.

"Some gentler love doth ease itself

Into my heart and mind.

For I am soft and made of snow

Love, be more cruel or so be kind…"

The soft, sweet melodic voice of the teenager seemed to entrance Roy and he watched each movement of the teen from the balcony. He saw every slight gesture, every twitch, and each step and still clung to the voice as if it were his only lifeline.

"My care is like my shadow

Laid bare beneath the sun.

It follows me at all times

And flies when I pursue it…"

Roy had been so captured by the song, he didn't hear someone open the door and walk inside, standing a good five or six feet behind him. The person shrugged to himself before he walked over and stood next to Roy and opened his mouth to comment, "He's not a bad singer."

Roy nearly jumped and his head turned sharply to the right to look into green eyes behind square-rimmed glasses. Hughes leaned against the railing with his normal grin, but this one was curious. No longer was he the spazzing first-in-command Roy had seen yesterday. He now wore his usual baggy silver pants with the red tunic, button down, embroidered across the chest with the fiery flame of Tsuki-kage. The man's eyes twinkled in what Roy would define as amusement. "So? What's going on?"

"I'm following him on his journey," Roy replied, turning back down to the teenager who had walked past their balcony and was heading towards the east end of the gardens, golden bangs flying this way and that with the wind. "There's something not right about his appearance."

"Oh, is that all?" Hughes laughed, crossing his arms and giving Roy a mischievous look. "Sounds to me as if you've gone beyond—what was that term? _Mild _interest?"

Roy glared, but Hughes just continued to chuckle, leaning backwards against one of the small pillars. The man was obviously amused by Roy's sudden "infatuation", but he didn't press too hard.

"You're asking me to fry you," Roy finally said, turning back to watch Ed stop at the wall and instead slowly climb up the tree, sitting on a branch and glancing out over the top. He could jump if he wanted to… but the kid wasn't moving.

"Looks to me like he has a reason to stay, too," Hughes commented, nodding to the blonde. "So when's the wedding?"

Roy pushed his hands in his pockets, resisting the urge to burn the man standing next to him. "It isn't like that, Hughes," he tried to say in his calmest voice. "I just want to know a few things and I'm thinking he can tell me. And in the meantime…" Roy turned to the man, facing him directly. "I'm having Hawkeye run things while I'm away."

Hughes' grin dropped at that and his eyes flooded with what almost looked like horror. "You're kidding me, right? That woman is scary with a bow and arrow!"

"Exactly," Roy said simply. "And you'll be her advisor in case she needs it. I don't know when I'll be back. I'll send word in three days."

"What if we don't hear from by the end of third day?" Hughes asked.

"Then something dangerous would have happened. If there's no word by day five—"

"We'll send out the knights."

"No. They're needed here for wall defense in case of an emergency. We could be attacked by the lands of Opal at any time."

"Then the archers."

"No. We need them for tower patrol in case of an attack."

"Then who the _hell _do you want us to send?!" Hughes threw his hands up in exasperation.

"Who do you think?"

Hughes gave Roy a blank stare. Roy sighed.

"If there's no word by day five, send out twenty of the low soldiers."

"But—"

"No. We need our higher defense here. If this kid is mixed up in more than he can handle, it could jeopardize our lands since everyone will know who I am outside the walls added on to the fact that my life is little compared to the people. Isn't it?"

Hughes sighed disapprovingly. "There you go acting rash again."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"What do you think it means? You're being a reckless kid again."

"I don't believe I gave you an order to lecture me, Hughes."

"Fine, I won't lecture. But you better have thought this through."

'_I wish,'_ thought Roy. _'How I wish.'_


	5. Chapter 5

**To the great reviewers: **To all of you, thanks for the support (I appreciate it a lot) and don't worry about LivingDeadgirl (such a sad and sorry child). She can cry all she wants and throw a tantrum, but all she makes me do is laugh at the vain attempts. Now... onward!

**Summary:** AU; Roy Mustang, king of the eastern kingdom, apprehends a stray foreigner. Oddly enough, the person isn't fully human. Roy takes interest.

**Pairings:** Roy/Ed, side Alphonse/Martel (I'll take request pairings now if anyone wants something to show up)

**Warnings:** Shounen-ai/yaoi, swearing (from Ed, of course), and Hughes running around in a miniskirt every now and then (hey, you never know with him...)

**Key:**

_'Blah'_ – Thoughts or Dreams

"Blah" – Talking

**Recommended listening:**

Metal Heart 

Chapter Five

"Laetabundus rediit

Avium concentus

Ver iocundum prodiit

Gaudeat iuventus

Nova ferens gaudia…"

The soft voice faded out as twined golden eyes closed, enjoying the breeze that caused his golden bangs to sway. Ed suddenly turned his head to the side, hearing the footsteps crunching a few twigs lying dead upon the courtyard ground. His eyes and voice lost their gentleness almost immediately at who was approaching and instead reflected his normal apathetic mood.

He hopped down from the tree, landing gracefully on the stone and faced Roy, shoving his hands back into his pockets. The man was wearing normal clothes now instead of the traditional king's wear; he wore a navy tunic top over a pair of sleek black pants. Over that he wore a long black cloak, meant for traveling like any other cloak. The only thing unnatural about it as Ed mentally compared their cloaks was the fact that this king was pompous enough to have his symbol of Tsuki-kage stitched on the hood. Roy was reflecting Ed's own apathetic mood, but soon, a small smirk grew on the face painted a blush-white in contrast with coal eyes. "Shall we?"

Ed said nothing and glared once before he turned and followed the king out of the courtyard, passing by a few of the maids who turned away immediately, back to their chores and trying not to stare. Ed didn't like any of this. He couldn't have anyone run him down, especially not a king; he was only going to get in the way. The skills _might _prove useful should things turn out worse than Ed expected, but that wasn't an excuse for allowing this pompous man to follow him around. It was taking all of Ed's will not to strangle the man leading him out beyond the large wrought iron gate of the courtyard.

When Roy stopped, Ed followed suit and tilting his head to get a good look beyond the king. There were two horses stationed by a wooden fence, both black, but the one on the right had a brown tint to its mane, almost like blended highlights. One had a small pack attached to its saddle, obviously not that heavy by even the first glance. Ed saw that there was a traveling cloak laid across the fence by the horse with brown hair. A new cloak for him. The horse with the brown tint threw its head back suddenly and neighed loudly, stamping its hooves.

"This one is hostile," Roy commented before turning to one of the guards. "Retrieve the horse Maximus. Mancer cannot be used today."

The guard nodded, but before he could hurry off, he stopped as Ed advanced on the hostile horse, which slammed down its front hooves not one foot from Ed. The teenager stopped and held out his left hand, stunning both the guard and Roy. The horse whinnied, obviously afraid before it quieted, using less movement than before. It leaned over with its long neck and sniffed Ed's hand. The animal's lips pulled back with each intake of smell, each time making Roy wonder whether the horse was going to bite Ed.

Then it stopped. Now, instead of neighing at the top of its lungs, it was almost quietly whining. Ed's hand slowly traveled up without hesitance and ran fingers through the horse's mane. It seemed to calm Mancer down and the horse leaned into the human touch. Ed then brought up his automail arm and pet the horse with it as well without a change in behavior.

"W-what should I do, sir?" asked the guard, snapping out of his stupor and wondering whether he should still retrieve the other horse.

Roy thought about it for a minute before he shook his head. "Disregard my last request. We'll use Mancer."

"Y-yes sir." The guard was now scared of this newcomer and how he could have calmed down one of their most hostile horses with a single movement.

Ed slowed his petting in the horse's hair and instead turned to look at Roy. "Well? _You're _the one who wanted to leave at mid-day."

Roy raised an eyebrow. "Still cocky as ever, I see."

"Whatever, just come on."

With that, Ed reached over and grabbed the awaiting cloak given to him, throwing it over his shoulders and clasping it shut with his own pin. He then untied the reins of the brown horse from the fence line, tugging ever so lightly with his left arm and the horse followed, huffing once at the sudden change in pace. Roy smirked to himself, adding a tinge of more fear to the guard before he too untied the reins of his horse, Shadow, and followed the teenager to the edge of the palace just beyond the courtyard.

"You're quite good with animals," Roy commented lightly, erasing the silence between them as he snapped his cloak shut with a quick snap of the fire emblem pin.

Ed rolled his eyes, "Seems like I'm the only one around here that is."

So, the boy was angry with him. Roy couldn't help but to admire that smiting anger coming off the teen, but he shoved that thought away and instead tilted his head. "Careful, Ed. I'd hate for you to get too cocky."

"Oh, so now _I'm_ the one who's too cocky? Who's the idiot who wanted to follow me like a hound dog?" Ed retorted, attempting to smother his anger by thinking about elements instead of the man walking with his black horse beside him.

"You have quite a short temper," the king continued, mentally ignoring all the verbal abuse he knew he had coming from the kid.

"WHO ARE YOU CALLING SO SHORT THAT HE WOULD BE CRUSHED BY AN ANT?!"

"I never said that," Roy replied, shrugging and fixing his lopsided hood send sending Ed a satisfied, amused grin.

The boy rolled his eyes and stopped at the wall, waiting for the guards to give the alert to open the gates. While Ed and Roy had walked, many of the townspeople had gathered and followed them to the large gate. A few whispered and pointed to Ed, making the teen want to get as far as away as soon as humanely possible. Slowly, he began to recite the elements he knew backwards as a way to forget about the whispering.

Roy glanced over at Ed. The teenager seemed to be concentrating on something; he was staring off into space, oblivious to the people murmuring about their fascination with his automail and wondering how he could have survived. The teen suddenly snapped his head up as a deep rumble came from the wall and the large gate began to open again.

As if pulled by an invisible string, Ed began to walk quickly, the horse whining a little as it was pulled. Roy followed the teenager out beyond the gate, fixing his cloak as he did so and beginning to mount Shadow. Ed did the same, putting his right leg on the saddle foothold before swinging his left leg over the horse's back and settling on the clothed hold up. He sighed and gripped the reins tightly.

"Hyah!" Roy snapped his horse's reins, setting the black animal off at a sudden gallop. Ed, once again, followed suit, and soon he passed the king, the horse's hooves stamping the dirt ground already broken by the wind. The mane of the brown-black horse flew behind it under Ed's chin. Roy was once more surprised by the teen, as he rode the horse as if he had been doing it forever. Roy snapped the reins again, catching up to the teen and falling in line, stealing a glance every now and then.

"So where to?" Roy called over the wind, knowing he was going in blindly as he had so often done.

Ed did not say anything, but turned his hand, veering the horse off to the left, more towards the east. Roy followed, deciding to close his mouth. Ed was either going to give him the silent treatment the whole way to the destination or he was giving him the silent treatment and leading him to a place where he would try to shake him off. Either way, Ed was as silent as the deep abyss that threatened to swallow Roy whole.

Who knew? Maybe it would...

* * *

They slowed to a stop in a small forest on the outskirts of a city called Fowl that Roy had only come into contact with twice during his reign. The forest was dense, packed tightly with a large variety of tree, from oaks to maples to fall ashes. All leaves were green with some minor exceptions from the fall ashes, which had turned a beautiful golden yellow, tinted with green at the heart of each leaf. 

Ed pulled on Mancer's reins and once the horse came to a complete stop, he jumped off, slightly startling the horse, but a simple pet took those fears away. As Roy dismounted his own horse, Ed led Mancer to the large oak tree and helped the horse out of its reins, first loosening the back buckle and then slowly bringing it over the animal's head, allowing Mancer to spit the metal tug into his hand. Ed threw the reins to the ground and ran his fingers across the horse's neck, tangling his metal fingers into the long mane.

"She could bolt at any time," Roy commented as he led Shadow to Mancer's side, but leaving the reins on the black animal's head, much to the horse's discomfort reflecting in its dark eyes.

Ed rolled his eyes, obviously annoyed, and turned away, eyes instead scanning the forest. "We can stop here tonight."

That was the first time Ed had spoken since they had left. Roy had expected his voice to hoarse from the disuse, then realized it was too short a time for that to happen.

"All right, then. We'll stop here."


	6. Chapter 6

**To sleepykit:** Yeah, sorry about the short chapter. I try not to over-use my description to make it seem repetitive. I just suddenly start writing and it goes many places... and then I'm SO lazy to go back and change something (cause for some reason, I can't find anything to change unless I said the same thing twice by accident). But yeah, I'll try to keep up what you and the other readers like. I just couldn't think of anything else to write for that night and I still can't, so I changed chapters and doing something a little different here in chapter six. I hope that I can make up for it, ne?

**To GreedxEd:** By god, you made my day! –hug– That was a totally awesome review! I am SO glad I'm not on the other end of that caps paragraph, cause as soon as I saw that, I was all "Oh, wow, she's in for it..." You rock so much and thanks for the encouragement. I was kinda hoping not to let you or anyone else down. Thanks for giving her a good kick. Made my day –laughs–

**To all my other reviewers**: Thanks for the support! I'll continue writing and hopefully get the plot to show. Some bad things might happen along the way to wherever they're going, though! My apologies to all of you, however, with the distractions of flames and back-flames. You can just skip those from now on (cause they'll be at the end if you don't want to read them XP).

**Extra Note:** I drew a map of my world so I can remember everything. Now, I'll be using different languages for the many regions and always put a translation at the bottom. Please know that I _do_ study different languages (German, Polish, Dutch, Japanese, and Lebanese (but only catch phrases) and I pick up some French and Spanish words), but if there is a mistake in any of the translations (and you KNOW it's wrong), tell me. Except for German. NO ONE can chew me out for that one, as I speak it on a regular basis. Thanks!

**Recommended listening:** _Somewhere _by Within Temptations

Metal Heart

Chapter Six

It was dark, like night, but it wasn't the kind of night that was veiled blue with twinkling lights dotting the sky. It was the night in the middle of nowhere, the clouds veiling the blue and turning the sky to a void-like black. Soft bullion-colored eyes tinted a slight brown stared into that darkness, trying to decipher shapes that weren't even there. They were dull, the pupils dilating every now and then as the owner of such empty eyes slipped in and out of consciousness.

There was a soft dripping sound and the emptiness around the slouched figure reeked of the red essence from within the human being. The floor of cold stone caused shivers for the figure every now and then. The cold air around him didn't help either and every time he moved, a pain shot up from his legs and arms, both of which were trapped within chains, making a rusty jingle with each shift. Short side bangs fell down across the figure's face as he took in a sharp breath. That remained of his shredded black tank top was soaked in his own blood, the whip marks across his chest already sealed over, seeming to be healing well enough. The red coat that he had worn before capture was across the floor, too far for him to reach.

"Ich bin verloren," he whispered, which was only as loud as he could without feeling pain assault his trachea. The golden brown eyes slowly slid shut. "Bruder... rette mich..."

"What are you mumbling about?" asked a voice coming from the other side of the cell. Golden eyes snapped open, the owner of such eyes unaware that he had spoken, and he looked into the darkness. He didn't trust his voice to speak again. He hadn't even realized he had spoken. He blinked and then suddenly, he felt something on his bruised cheek, startling him. He turned his head sharply, causing a small yelp to escape his throat as pain exploded across his brow.

"They did a number on you, didn't they, kid?" The voice was a woman's and once he blinked, he could see a dark outline just a few feet in front of him. Short hair and a very lean form was all he could make out. He tilted his head slightly; just enough to lessen the pain traveling like electricity through his cranium.

"W-who are you?" he asked, not registering the slight tremble in his voice. He was confused, so very confused.

"Another prisoner, just like you," was the reply as something settled next to him. "Except I'm not the one in such a sticky situation."

He blinked once, eyes focusing for the first time in days. His eyes traced pale skin flickering in the dull candlelight from beyond the wooden door on the later, red tattoos tracing across one side of the woman's body. Her blonde hair was extremely short, but her barely-seen eyes reflected some form of sympathy, making her seem less dangerous. How long had she been here? More importantly, how could she see him when he couldn't see her all that well?

He was surprised when he felt something cover him, the dry fabric giving him a little warmth. He glanced down and saw the deep red fabric winking at him. The woman who had placed it on him sat back. He forced a weak smile. "T-thanks..."

"It's no problem," she replied before she stretched and sat back, lying back down on the stone floor. He figured he shouldn't speak and instead rest. She wasn't one of them; he could tell. His eyes closed and he shifted his arms a little so the odd angle wouldn't be uncomfortable. His bare hands clenched and unclenched slowly, making sure tactile sensation still ran through the numb nerves.

He still hadn't gotten over the smell of blood; it still made him want to vomit, but he didn't have anything to throw up. He had lost quite a bit of blood, but he knew he wouldn't die. He had been told what death had felt like and he knew this wasn't it. A human's strong intuition could always tell.

'_Brother... help me...'_

With that preceding thought, Alphonse closed his eyes and promptly passed out.

* * *

"So what's the plan?" 

Edward glanced up from his mechanical right arm and let his eyes settle on Roy for a moment before he turned away, clenching and unclenching his right hand. The teen threw on his new cloak and snapped the collar shut, adjusting the hood so it hid his braid. Roy watched him the entire time, patiently waiting for an answer. Finally, Ed sighed and worked on replacing the reins on Mancer's head. "We head north, then turn more east a little to go around Tremonton. No stops except of the horses."

"When do you plan to stop for yourself?" Roy asked, raising an eyebrow.

"I don't. And if I do, it's _not_ going to be in a city."

"And why's that?"

"The less attention, the better. Surely you would know that?" Ed sent a small glare the king's way while he buckled the reins, testing them once, much to Mancer's complaint.

"If that's your tactic, then tell me our destination," Roy exclaimed as he began pulling on his gloves, which he had removed the night before.

'_You mean _my_ destination,'_ Ed thought angrily, but turned his head to face the black-haired man. Golden eyes burned into the coal ones, lighting them and causing a shudder to run down the king's spine. "The destination is Ithalril. In the lands of Zukon."

Roy gave the boy a weird look before the words registered. His eyes widened a little. _'He's not serious! That place is filled with serpents and death... why would he journey to such a place?'_

Roy caught Ed's eye, trying to make sure he had heard correctly. He remembered his own words, voicing in his ear, back from the previous night, running through his head straight from the infirmary.

"_What do you fight for?"_

"Why are you going there?" Roy demanded in an orderly tone. Was this teenager asking for a death wish?

"For something dear to me," Ed replied as he mounted Mancer, griping the reins. "You can turn around if you want, but I'm going. I have to."

"_I fight for me. And my brother. Not that you would understand."_

"It's suicide, Ed," Roy retorted, but closed his mouth at the menacing glare coming from the teenager atop the brown-black horse.

"_I care about him..."_

Golden eyes blazed with fury at him, the knuckles of the boy's left hand gripping the reins tight enough to whiten. The mouth was in a deep frown and the anger seemed to flow around the teenager in a deep red aura. "I have my reasons. If you want to chicken out on this, then go ahead! I'm going!"

"_... and because I'm the only one who will!"_

The forest echoed with the snap of reins as Mancer suddenly whinnied, hooves beating the ground as the animal began to gallop off through the thicket of trees. Roy immediately mounted Shadow and pulled the reins, causing the animal to rear first, then begin to follow the horse ahead of it. In a manner of minutes, Roy had caught up with Ed, who had slowed down, but did not look back even as the king called to him. Roy grit his teeth in frustration and snapped his reins once, urging Shadow to run faster. The horse complied and passed Ed in no time. Roy slowed the horse in front of Ed's path, too close for the teen to veer the other way. Ed had to stop. Which he did.

Ed pulled the reins sharply, causing a whiny to erupt from Mancer's throat as the horse slammed its hooves against the ground, halting itself at its master's command. The teen glared at Roy, who looked past it and let out a small sigh before he reached over to the teen. Ed shrunk back a little without falling off the saddle, but all Roy did was take hold of the red pendant clasp and snap the cloak shut.

Ed blinked at the notion before he glanced up at the king, most of the anger replaced by sheer confusion. The elder alchemist turned his horse and looked northwest with a distant look in his eyes. The look was then replaced by defiance and they turned on Ed. "Are you sure you want to go to Zukon?"

Ed got over his confusion and growled, "Of course I do!"

Roy sighed. "Then come on."

Ed blinked again, his anger vanishing, taken over by the perplexity of the situation again, even as he tried to straighten himself and find the reins that had tangled with his cloak. Roy was already trotting ahead, fast and going somewhere, but slow enough for Ed to catch up. They were side by side now.

One glance said it all.

In the next minute, they were galloping hard and fast, the invisible rivalry of a race stirring between them keeping their strength up and leading to a twinge of enjoyment and admiration echoing within their chests.

* * *

They had made it to Spiraalvormg Bos by mid-day. The forest there was darker, its leaves eternally deep green and packed tightly together, thicker and larger than the previous forest. Ed frowned and dismounted Mancer upon coming up to the place. He knew he had to go through the forest to get to the safety of Sneeuw—despite the fact he hadn't wanted to stop in a city—but it was the only path that wasn't guarded by the Trementon warriors. 

Ed took a firm hold of Mancer's reins and slowly began walking. He noticed that Roy, atop Shadow, had halted and was still, both sets of coal eyes examining the forest. Ed raised an eyebrow. "What?"

"You do realize where you're going, don't you?" Roy asked, eyes sweeping down to lock on the golden teen, asking for clarification.

"It's faster this way," the teen replied while shrugging. "I heard it's dangerous, but it's quicker than going around. Going around would take the rest of the day."

Roy dismounted, black eyes still keeping hold of the golden ones. "So I assume you know of the dangers, correct?"

Ed's eyebrow fell and instead furrowed in concentration. "Only rumors, really."

Roy sighed. He had thought the kid had a plan, but obviously not. The teenager was taking everything head-on without even thinking ahead. "We need a plan."

"I don't have time for that!" Ed protested, eyes sharpening; it wasn't a glare, but that didn't make the shiver go down Roy's spine lessen. The teenager turned around and began to walk, but Roy reached out and grabbed the teenager's right wrist–the automail one. Roy spun the teen around to face him and held him in place by his shoulders. "You can't just charge in there, Ed. You need a plan."

Ed attempted to shove Roy away and almost succeeded had the king not grabbed his arm again once he was free. "Edward, listen to me—"

"No, _you_ listen!" the teenager interrupted. "I don't have time for your shit! This is exactly why I didn't want you to come! You were going to slow me down, tell me to be patient, and completely waste my time! Well, I've got news for you, old man! I don't need your crap! I'm going to go in there and screw you if you get left behind!"

"You're being stupid, Ed!" Roy half-yelled. His cloak billowed out around his feet as he turned, twisting Ed's arm around and putting his hand behind the teenager's neck. Ed made a sound somewhere between a growl and a small moan of pain as his automail creaked against the sudden pressure. Roy let out a sigh, but didn't let up on his pin. "If you charge in there headfirst, you'll die. Then you'll never find your brother."

'_How did he…?'_ Ed's eyes widened, but he didn't retort. He didn't have a smart comeback this time around. Instead, he turned his body and pushed Roy away from him, but not at all gracefully. Roy caught himself and watched as Ed slowly balanced himself. When the teenager turned back around, the golden eyes were staring with something indefinable, unreadable, but it wasn't in the form of a glare. This look was deeper, carrying more emotions than just anger or frustration. Oddly enough, those were absent now.

"What do you suggest?" Ed finally asked, replacing the look with his normal harsh stare. His tone was back to his normal agitated voice.

Roy glanced off to the Spiraalvormg Bos, eyes analyzing what seemed like an endless forest ahead of them. Eyes still calculating, the mouth spoke before the mind. "We can't afford to split up, for one thing. If you heard the rumors right, then you'll need all the help you can get."

"I'm not a child," Ed protested, crossing his arms.

"I didn't say you were," Roy replied offhandedly, still looking into the forest. "Its name says it all. It's a spiraling maze, easy to get lost in."

"If you're so worried, can't I just throw us over it with alchemy?" Ed asked.

Roy shook his head. "The surrounding area negates most alchemy use, if not _all_ of it. If we use our alchemy, who knows what could happen. If done in the heart of it, well... it's supposedly life-threatening."

"So if we encounter something..."

"Alchemy is only a last resort."

"Dammit."

Ed clenched and unclenched his right hand, thinking to himself with an agitated look inscribed on his face. He knew he shouldn't always rely on alchemy, but he had become so dependent on it for the past four years, it was hard not to use it all the time.

"And you can't burn it down, can you?"

Roy gave Ed a weird, disbelieving look. "Not even if I wanted to."

Ed raised an eyebrow. "Why wouldn't you want to?"

"It's a vital resource to the living human being. Surely you'd know that?"

Ed suddenly grinned. "Tree-hugger."

Roy raised his eyebrow. "Pipsqueak."

Again, like all the other times, Ed exploded. "WHO ARE YOU CALLING A HALF-WATERED BEAN SPROUT?!"

"I didn't say that," Roy sighed, waving his hand. He took hold of his horse's reins, motioning Ed to do the same. The teen did so, if not a little reluctantly with that vein throbbing on his forehead.

"The best thing to do right now is just take it slow and act rational," Roy said as they walked to the small entrance to the forest. "And be cautious. There are things humans shouldn't see in there."

"Yeah, yeah, I got it," Ed grumbled, keeping a firm hold on Mancer's reins as he walked with the king into the maze. They walked a few feet, taking a good look around. Already, there were hedges in front of them, blocking a straight path.

'_Of course,'_ Ed thought. _'It's just like any other maze.'_

But unlike any other maze, this one wasn't as simple.

* * *

_Translator:_

Ich bin verloren – I am lost (German)

Bruder... rette mich... – Brother... save me... (German)

Ithalril – Prison (made it up)

Zukon – Death (made it up)

Spiraalvormg Bos – Spiral Forest (Dutch)

Sneeuw – Snow (Dutch)

Fuchsland – Fox Land/Land of Foxes (German)

* * *

**To LivingDeadgirl from Saphira112:** In the words of a wise reviewer, "What is this, a fictionpress political debate?" Let's get this straight. I don't force you to like the fanfic so it's your own free will to come back here. Why the hell are you "reading" this story if you don't like it? You just want to bash me, it seems. Now to use your "advice" against you. I've watched the series for over the past four years and recently re-watched it with some friends of mine _and _saw the movie (the last one-night showing) on Thursday night, so I know the plot _quite well_, thank you very much. The thing about my fic is that it is _Alternate Universe_, meaning the plot is_ not_ in here; I just use the characters for my little world idea that popped up one random day. You can offer constructive criticism instead (but I doubt that means anything to you) and I wouldn't have retaliated at all. Flaming me straight out was one of those stupid-ass decisions (a lot of assumption comes in) and it makes your seem like an abysmal person. You _did_ refer to me as a goddess—even if just to bash the other reviewers—in your last flame, so I'm not sure about me being a parasite to you except that in my mind, it's the other way around, as _you_ were the one who started this nonsense. You don't rebuff evidence we've put forth against you, especially in the mention of NDK and knowing that, I doubt you'd take all what you said back just by saying you were "a little harsh" and saying you apologize. Judging a person before you know them? Please. Try taking your own advice. What do you call doing to me at school after NDK of 2006? I was acting out my character at the convention and you automatically think that's my true personality? And then you come back a week later during school once someone told you what I was doing—acting out my character, that is—and then _you_ assume that you know _everything_ about me? What do you call _that_, hmm? You didn't know anything and still don't. Some of the readers are annoyed by the fact you continue flaming (the same chapter, mind you). I got a PM that someone wanted this nonsense to stop and if you have any common sense, you will and let it die. Then reviewers can actually enjoy the fic instead of being caught up in this dispute and I can continue writing what I want to write without a random girl in the corner saying she hates it repeatedly. Quite annoying. As I said, if you don't like it, you do NOT have to read it! Or keep flaming the same chapter by changing your alias for that matter. 

**To LivingDeadgirl from Drakara:** You're being a complete hypocrite. You say she writes horrible fanfics and then your flames lack quality and those are minor compared to fanfics. I suggest you review yourself before you bother critiquing anyone else. Especially when you know them in real life. Just because you don't get along with her is no reason to flame. I've been there, done that, I know how to deal with people like you.

**To LivingDeadgirl from catwwoman47:** Who flames the same chapter just by changing their alias? Do the world a favor and GET A LIFE! If you flame someone, at least do it right! If not, bugger off!

**To LivingDeadgirl from Teh-Palm-Tree:** Jeez, what kind of name is LivingDeadgirl? "I am the dead one that shall smite all that is good because I can't write anything at all"? Get a life, would you?

**To LivingDeadgirl from zinichi uzumaki:** To put it simply, you would never have gone to view Saphira's story if you didn't have some sick revenge against her and take it out on her story. So don't even get started when you say that we are only protecting her because we adore her, because we are protecting her due to the fact that you are sending unconditional revenge and not actual comments. You would NEVER have thought of viewing Saphira112's profile and fics unless you were mad and wanted revenge. And ignore the flames? If you did, you'd have gone away by now! If you can't take the flames, then don't dish them out! Oh, and she didn't "steal" me from you; I made this decision by myself and she was behind me all the way. I left cause of you dumping all your problems on me! A person's sanity can only go so far! By the way, how is AngelPie (that little angel that has the misfortune of being your little sister)?

**To LivingDeadgirl from GreedxEd:** LEARN FANFIC TERMS! IT SAYS AU IN THE SUMMARY! AU MEANS ALTERNATE UNIVERSE! IT MEANS IT IS DIFFERENT! IF YOU DON'T LIKE THE STORY, DON'T READ IT! DO YOU REALIZE HOW STUPID YOU MAKE YOURSELF LOOK BY READING A STORY YOU DON'T LIKE?! AND FOR YOUR INFORMATION, NO ONE IS OOC! I'VE SEEN THE SERIES 5 TIMES OVER AND THEN SOME _WITH _THE MOVIE! SO I KNOW WHAT I'M TALKING ABOUT! IT'S OBVIOUS HOW LITTLE YOU KNOW ABOUT THE SERIES, THE CHARACTERS, AND FANFICTION! GET OVER YOURSELF AND LEARN A THING OR TWO ABOUT THIS BEFORE YOU ACT LIKE A KNOW-IT-ALL WHEN YOU'RE JUST AN IDIOT! (It's in all caps for a reason)

**To LvingDeadgirl from (undisclosed recipient):** Dude, if you're gonna flame, at least do it right. I've flamed people before—although I don't do it anymore now—but even_ I_ know how to do it right. You focus on the STORY, not the person! You obviously aren't interested in the story _at all_ and don't know ANY fanfic terms. Your grammar sucks and now you're acting like a child who tries to make up with the simplest of gestures. Grow up and get a life. You obviously don't have one right now. If you truly did ignore flames, then you'd have shut up by now.


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N:** Whoo! No more flames! -does a little dance- Hee, well I'm obviously very happy. I can update in peace! Thank god, too... -gives offering to the Yaoi Gawd- (hee, inside joke). Anyway! I am updating now and some new twists are beginning to slide in.

**Summary:** You people should know it by now.

**Pairings:** Roy/Ed, Al/Martel (others upon request)

**Warnings:** Shounen-ai/yaoi, language/swearing, blood/gore, violence, and awkward moments

**Key:**

_'Blah'_ – Thoughts

"Blah" – Talking

**Recommended listening:** _Nishra's Dance_ by Red and Gold

Metal Heart 

Chapter Seven

"I've been meaning to ask you something, Ed."

The silence that had hung over the two individuals walking around large hedges was abruptly broken with that sentence from Roy and a snort from Mancer. The blonde teenager stroked the horse's mane before he turned his attention to the king, who was wearing both his trademark smirk and a curious look shining in his coal eyes.

"What is it?" Ed asked, keeping his tone even, but a slight hint of annoyance slipped through.

Roy lifted his hand and motioned to the side of Edward's head. The teenager turned to look at his side, but there was nothing unusual. Even more annoyed, the teenager looked back up. "What?!"

Roy nodded to the blonde teenager. "Your ear."

Ed blinked a moment, raising an eyebrow, before it clicked in his hand and his left hand unconsciously went up to his ear, touching the ruby that was struck through his skin and pinned on the opposite side.

"What about it?" he asked, his finger hiding it for a moment before he put his hand back down. His eyebrow still raised, he gave the king a weird look, as if he were suddenly sprouting three heads. Why notice such a thing?

"Why do you wear it?" Roy asked. Roy knew that everyone had the freedom to do whatever they wanted to their bodies—to an extent, anyway—but seeing things such as an ear-piercing on a boy as young as Ed was rather odd, especially from the looks of him.

The boy was deeply tanned, as if he had walked through the deserts of Zigeune, his eyes a deep gold bullion—a color not normally seen in the eyes of people around the central or eastern lands. His hair was also long; normally, a boy would not extend it lower than their ears. Ed's hair traveled all the way down to his middle back, tied into a thick, tight braid. His side bangs were spiked, looking sharp compared to Roy's frontal bangs, which while curved, held little to no spike to them.

So perhaps asking that question was rather stupid and he was probably going to get taunted by the teenager and get snappy remarks, but Roy was curious. While curiosity killed the cat, the suspense always brought it back. Roy was that cat. And he was going to get an answer.

Ed frowned. That was a weird question. While he was not in his own land, he still had his own land rights due to his status and morals. His eyebrow fell and he began thinking to himself. "It's a long story, actually," he said, trying to divert the conversation. Roy, however, was not that easy to distract.

"With how big this maze is, we should have plenty of time," Roy pressed, using the situation to his advantage.

Ed's eyes narrowed and his lips curled into what Roy would assume to be a pout, but by the thoughtful look, he knew it wasn't. From all that Roy had observed, Ed pouting would be the day that Roy slipped into a miniskirt, jumped on his throne, and did the Can-Can. After a moment of silence, Roy opened his mouth to continue to press the question, but Ed beat him to it.

"Long story short, my brother gave it to me," was the somewhat quiet reply. "He has the other one." The voice was hesitant, as if saying the wrong thing would reveal too much. Roy knew that tone quite well.

"Where did you get them? If I'm not mistaken, that's a ruby, is it not? If so, they're rare," Roy prompted, raising his eyebrow.

This was true. Rubies were only ever found in the mines of Trementon and even if one did go about to the city and find one, they were downright expensive. Moreover, the mines had recently had a decrease in rubies, so the prices had gone even higher. On top of it all, it was risky. Trementon was a dangerous place and rumor had it that they lately had joined forces with Rmeth, one of the cities in the lands of Zukon. Their alliance threatened the peace of the rest of Kantrae.

Ed shrugged. "We transmuted them."

Now _that_ was interesting.

"With what?" Roy's face had formed a slightly befuddled look, something Ed would have paid to see, but didn't really care about that at the moment. The teenager shrugged again.

"Not much," he replied. "Just the basic earthly materials back home. The four basic elements we used were chromium, aluminum, hydrogen, and oxygen. Two molecules of aluminum combined with three oxygen molecules and chromium. Just add a bit of hydrogen and you can make any stone. It's simple, really."

The teenager suddenly shut his mouth when he realized he had babbled off another formula absentmindedly. Curse his habit.

Roy was impressed. It was as if the boy had the table of elements all memorized in his head. Most alchemists couldn't do that. Added onto the fact that Ed had explained water and fire compounds to Hughes back at the palace as if he did it everyday.

"You do realize that it can be brought up as a criminal cause as extreme as changing lead into gold, don't you?" Roy asked. Was the teenager as reckless as we thought?

Ed frowned and he got an angry look in his eyes. "You do realize you're being a pest, don't you?" The boy sighed. "But yeah, I know that. But what people don't know doesn't hurt them. Besides, it's not that uncommon."

"Where are you from anyway, Ed?"

"Fuchsland," was the short, simple reply.

Ah, that would explain it. Fuchsland was far west, southwest of the lands of Drache and northwest of Fumee, which was south of Tierra. In retrospect, Tsuki-kage, Roy's lands, were just one hundred seventy miles east of Tierra. By following it backwards, Roy mentally drew a map of where Fuchsland was.

Fuchsland, from what he had heard, was a small little country–like place. There were no big, tall buildings that scrapped the sky with their daggers or palaces upon which a king sat. The place was as rural as one could get, with small cottages and large, open fields. Some of the best automail mechanics were down in Fuchsland. Roy wondered why he had not derived a conclusion when he had seen Ed and his impressive automail.

Roy blinked, mentally stopping that. Had he just complimented Ed's automail? Giving his head a swift shake, he turned to look at the hedges instead of at the teenager anymore. Ok, so he had complimented Ed. Alternatively, to put his mind at ease, he had complimented whoever had given Ed a full-metal prosthetic arm and leg. Knowing that, Roy felt a little more relieved. He couldn't get his mind caught up in this now.

"Something's not right."

Roy broke off from his train of thought and turned to look at Ed. The teenager had on a serious look, as he always did, but this time, his brow was furrowed in concentration and his eyes seemed to have gotten much darker. The gold was now more of a brown than anything and the young body was extremely tense.

Suddenly, the teenager turned around, as if he had heard something. Before Roy could blink, the young alchemist was thrown backwards by something too fast for his eyes and the alchemist slammed into the hedges, the thorns from a rosebush sticking themselves into Ed's legs. The boy cringed, letting out a loud "dammit!" and removed himself from the bushes, just as something slammed into them, slicing through them, leaving a gaping hole, disappearing through another hedge. The wind whistled through the hole, giving off an eerie feel.

Mancer had reared and raised its legs, frightened by the sudden presence and suddenly galloped off, jumping through the hole. Ed reached out to grab the reins, but the horse was too fast for him. It was on the other side of the hole and galloping away down one of the many paths of Spiraalvormg Bos. Roy held a firm grip on Shadow's reins as the horse almost followed Mancer, and the king took in a deep breath to calm his nerves. As soon as Ed had been hit, Roy's immediate reaction had been to snap his fingers, sending off a small bomb around whatever had attacked, but it was gone. At least, for now. Roy knew he couldn't be on edge the entire time they were there.

Ed was grumbling to himself off to the side, something about horses being stupid, as he used his automail hand to remove the thorns stuck in his left leg. The one on his right leg hadn't even pierced his clothing. Ed let out a huff and glanced towards the hole, moving to stand beside Roy. "You could've helped, you know."

"You want to be charcoal?" Roy asked, raising an eyebrow. The boy didn't answer, just kept staring at the hole, as if trying to figure something. Roy frowned. "What was that?"

"I don't know," Ed replied, moving to re-adjust his cloak.

A moment of silence passed before Roy turned back to Ed. "How in the world were you able to hear it coming?"

Ed gave the king a stupid look. "How do you think? The wind's moving southeast from the northwest area. I heard a loud rustle coming from the _east _area, louder than normal. And then there was that displacement of air behind us, so I knew there was something nearby."

"I didn't hear anything." _'Or feel anything for that matter...'_

"You're just getting old," Ed remarked.

"Very funny, shrimp."

"WHO'RE YOU CALLING SO SMALL YOU COULDN'T EVEN SEE WITH A MAGNIFYING GLASS?!"

"I didn't say that," Roy dismissed the subject with a wave of his hand while Ed fumed, glaring fiery daggers at the hole made by God-only-knew-what. "In any case, Ed, we need to get out of here and fast."

"You think I don't know that?" Ed asked, annoyed. It wasn't just the fact he had been attacked or the king taunting him about his height that he was annoyed. It was also the fact that Mancer had decided to be a chicken rather than a good steed and run off. Now only God knew where the animal was.

"We should keep moving," Roy said. "And quickly. We might find Mancer later on."

"Yeah, whatever," Ed turned his head the other way as his arms fell under his cloak again, hiding his body in one sweep of cloth. They were walking for another silent moment before Ed suddenly turned his head to the side, down another path. "We might no have to."

Roy gave Ed a weird look before he followed the teenager down the new path. When they turned the corner, they both shrank back in shock, bringing hands to their noses as the smell of blood ensnared their senses, forcing them to keep moving forward. They turned another corner to the left, then to the right. Then they stopped, shocked.

The great mustang of brown and black, whose mane rippled in the wind, and whose speed was great, now lay against the hedge, black eyes open wide, but unseeing. Its mane was stuck to its back with red liquid that was pouring out of its slit throat and stomach. If one changed angle perspective, he would see all the organs no longer functioning within the animal's body. The fact was proven unnecessary in the next few seconds, because it was then that Roy saw that the organs had been slit, one at a time, and were falling out of the animal's gut.

Roy was used to the stench of blood, but when he glanced to see Ed's expression, he suddenly forgot about the horse and grew worried. Ed's eyes were wide in shock and horror; the boy's body was shaking slightly, but the golden teen didn't seem to notice. His pupils dilated from dull to emotional and back again, as if he were slipping in and out of a coma state and his legs took his body a hesitant step back.

"Ed?" Roy hesitantly touched the boy's shoulder and the flinch was answer enough. The boy had never seen such a gruesome killing, especially of a once-proud animal, it seemed.

"Ed?" Roy tried again.

Eyes suddenly focusing, Ed pushed the hand off his shoulder and turned away from the sight. "I'm fine. We have to keep moving. We could be next."

Of course, the military act of supremacy again; Ed didn't like being caught unawares, it seemed. Roy tilted his head to get a good look at the teen's face and he saw that Ed's eyes were widened again, shock running through them, even as the teenager tried to mentally make it go away. Roy reached out from behind, but Ed took a step forward, creating distance without knowing it as the teenager straightened, heading off in the opposite direction. Roy let out a sigh and tugged Shadow's reins. The horse followed obediently, not glancing back at the mess that had once been his companion.

They walked once again in silence. It was extremely quiet between them; not even the wind could be heard. It seemed to have died down a while ago. Roy kept glancing to Ed, but the boy was lost in his own thoughts, all the while looking around and tensing at each corner. Finally, Roy couldn't stand the silence any more. He had to break it.

"You're scared, aren't you?" Ok, so probably not the best thing to ask after that in order to shatter the quietness, but Roy couldn't help himself.

Angry golden eyes turned on him and Edward shook his head quickly. "No, I'm not. I'm just not comfortable in this place."

"No one ever is," Roy commented, immediately diverting the conversation to casual talk. Or rather, what would be considered casual due to what they had just seen and experienced. He cast a quick glance to the teenager, who turned his head away, not making eye contact.

Ed finally sighed. "You're not one to believe in rumors, are you?"

"No, I'm not," Roy replied, raising an eyebrow. "I rely on fact, not fiction."

"Well, so do I, but what hit me will probably fall under the fiction category," Ed admitted, shoving his hands into his pockets under the cloak. "That is, if my eyes didn't fail me."

"What are you talking about?"

Ed granted the king a side-ways glance. "Are you going to open your mind to the possibility or brush it off like another ghost story?"

"Depends. What did you see?"

"A symbol."

"Symbol of what?"

Ed was silent for a moment. His eyes spoke the words he could not, expressing his thinking on the matter, trying to figure out something he didn't have enough evidence to prove. Shadow whinnied a little and Roy calmed the animal with a stroke across the creature's neck.

"The Ouroboros."

"The snake devouring its own tail?" Roy asked for clarification.

Ed nodded. Roy frowned. "And what does that mean?"

The teenager whirled around and gave the king an 'are-you-an-idiot?' look. "Don't you know _anything_ about alchemy or the world in general?"

"What are you suggesting?" Roy asked, coal eyes narrowing.

Ed slammed his left fist into his right hand in anger, giving the black-haired man a look that clearly said he should know something about it.

"I can't believe you don't know! Of all the people I saw in your country, I expected at least you to know!" Ed's eyes were narrowed again and he was downright _pissed_. He shook his head a few times. "It's eternity, it's never-ending... you don't know this?!"

"Ed?" Roy's eyes met the golden ones of the alchemist and then he saw it, without Ed having to speak.

"Dammit, Roy, it's the symbol of the Homunculi!"

* * *

_Translator_

Trementon – Sword (made-up)

Rmeth – Acid (made-up)

Zukon – Arrow (made-up)

Kantrae – World (made-up)

Fuchsland – Fox Land/Land of Foxes (German)

Drache – Dragon (German)

Fumee – Flame (French)

Tierra – Earth (Spanish)

Tsuki-kage – Moon Shadow (Japanese)

Spiraalvormg Bos – Spiral Forest (Dutch)


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N: **Sorry for the wait. Couldn't figure out how to start the chapter. Ended up re-writing it about four times –nervous laugh –

**To GreedxEd:** I know! Isn't it great!? –Does a little happy dance –

**To everyone else:** I'm _so_ sorry about the horse! It was necessary. Don't get me wrong, I _love _horses. But poor Mancer had to go. You'll see why later one (and you might even forgive me! At least, I hope...)

ONWARD!

**Summary:** You people should know it by now.

**Pairings:** Roy/Ed, Al/Martel (Marta) (others upon request)

**Warnings:** Shounen-ai/yaoi, language/swearing, blood/gore, violence, references to alcohol, and awkward moments

**Key:**

'_Blah'_ – Thoughts

"Blah" – Talking

**Recommended listening:** K. by Kenji Tani from the "FMA: Wingless Angel" game soundtrack

Metal Heart

Chapter Eight

"Kid..."

Al groaned in his sleep, brow furrowed in pain, the soft tissue around his eyes clenching as he saw flashing scenes behind his dark eyelids. The voice calling him made the flashes vanish and for a moment, he almost felt conscious, but he thought the voice was a figment of his imagination, so he ignored it.

"Kid, wake up."

The voice again. It could still be his imagination playing tricks on him. Normally in the morning, he would hear Ed calling out to him, waking him up so they could go out early to Winry's and get breakfast. Either that or Ed would attempt to make the breakfast, taking half the kitchen with him. Speaking of food...

Al hadn't eaten anything in almost a week. The beatings and whippings had made him forget about such things that now seemed trivial but in fact were extremely vital. He had gotten water the first few times by transmuting some of the bare elements in the room hidden deep away within the stone walls and floor, but then he had his gloves taken... well, more so destroyed than taken. They had been ripped to shreds, the transmutation circles destroyed and the fabric half burned. But they had been a part of Al. A part that he didn't feel like he could get back.

"Kid, you gotta get up."

Ok, now he was sure he wasn't imagining it. Letting out another small groan, Al hesitantly opened his eyes, rousing himself from the dream-ridden sleep that had claimed him not so long before. His eyes met with the same darkness that had greeted him every morning. Or was it afternoon? It could be evening and Al wouldn't know how to tell. If he concentrated, maybe, but he couldn't. He found himself staring into a pair of dull eyes, eyes that which he could not tell if the color was an olive green or a grey tinted green that refused to reflect his own image.

"Good, you're awake."

Al's brow furrowed in sudden confusion. Why had she raised him from the sleep that caused his aches and pains to fade off into the same darkness he feared? Why was she staring at him with little to no expression, as if he weren't worth contemplating?

"They'll be back within an hour. You need to eat something."

Al gave her a confused look, unable to speak. How was he supposed to eat when they bring him nothing but crumbs of bread and the wine he was too young to drink? How could he eat that which was less for a mouse and drink that which was for adults? His head pounded by each awakening from the dehydration, his stomach turned itself over, devouring its own acid, and his body continued to throb with each new infliction that tore his flesh.

He felt a cup pressed to his lips, but he turned his head away, afraid to taste the wine that was as much torturous and tempting as taking his own life. A hand firmly gripped his chin and the cup tilted, pouring liquid into his mouth. Al struggled slightly, trying to turn his head away, but suddenly stopped as what his tongue tasted was not the bitter wine of grapes and berries, but of clear spring water, sparkling as the stars that dotted the skies; he swallowed it greedily and instinctively. Some of it trailed down his chin from the corner of his mouth, but he paid no heed.

Soon, there was no more water to drink and the cup left his lips, allowing him to take in a sharp breath. He heard a clink as the cup hit the ground.

"Better?" asked the female just across from him.

Al barely nodded, taking in another breath. How long had it been since he had drunken such clean water? "I didn't... didn't catch your name..."

"It's Marta."

"Marta... it's nice...W-where did you...?"

"Get the water? From the private spring beyond the borders," Marta answered in a casual tone, as if they were talking while sitting on the main dirt road of Fuchsland.

Al's eyes widened a little from their half-lidded state. "H-how...?"

"Oh, it wasn't that hard... I just had to stretch my arm there. Had to evade a few guards, though, but we all know how stupid they can be."

"Stretch?" Now Al was confused.

Marta nodded and she turned her head the other way, reaching out with her arm. Then, before Al's eyes, the arm stretched, elongating, moving across the room in a single fluid movement. It stopped when it reached the wall across the room. Al whipped his head sharply to Marta.

"You're a—"

"Chimera?" She finished for him. "Yeah." Her arm snapped back into normal length before Al could blink. The teenager shifted slightly, feeling his cloak fall off his shoulders and pool into his lap.

"Thanks..." He murmured.

She nodded. "You needed it if you want to get out of here alive."

"Can't you...?" Al felt his voice crack a little, trailing off.

"Leave? One would think." She gestured to the chain that bound her ankle to the wall. "They've made it size to fit. I can't stretch out of it."

Al frowned and closed his eyes again. He was still tired, so very tired and weak. The water had rejuvenated him, certainly, but he couldn't ignore the ache echoing through his veins throughout his body. His wrists were sending stings across his nerves, bound by the chains he couldn't transmute out of. Why couldn't he have seen the things Ed had seen so that he could transmute without those infuriating circles? Why...?

Unconsciously, Al began to murmur words under his breath, absentmindedly singing a song that many had long forgotten, but the one that kept up his hope.

"My care is like my shadow

Laid bare beneath the sun...

It follows me at all times...

And flies when I pursue it..."

Marta didn't question him.

* * *

There was a wind, a swirling wind that pick up spiked blonde bangs before letting them go, traveling over to strands of black and repeating the same notion. Ed was glaring at Roy, his gold eyes reflecting something that seemed to say, "Are you an idiot?" while Roy just stared back, not sure if he had heard Ed right or if the forest was playing with him.

Roy blinked once before he asked, "Are you sure?"

"Of course I'm sure!" Ed immediately shot back. "I saw the Ouroboros on its leg."

Roy's eyes narrowed. "We should keep moving."

"No shit," Ed muttered, glancing back behind them before nodding towards Roy, then turning his gaze away from the corner that hid Mancer's corpse. Roy's eyes followed the teenager's movements. He seemed distracted now, as if there was something more he had to say, but was not going to speak of it.

"Let's go," Roy said, gesturing the teen to walk. He received a glare, but he had expected as much. He could catch on quickly was Ed did and did not like about all this. He did not like seeing a horse's corpse, or being told what to do, or having to explain things. At the same time, Roy wondered why the teen hadn't run off and ditched him already. Even without a horse to accompany and assist him, he could still run off. And yet he wasn't. He was there, giving cold shoulders, glares, and silence part of the way, but wasn't going to run. It was odd.

Odd and interesting.

Roy mounted Shadow quickly, knowing it would be easier for them to get out of there on horseback. Ed watched the king with a weird look on his face. "What the hell are you doing?"

"Riding. Get on."

"Are you insane?!" Ed crossed his arms. "You want to risk vulnerability? How stupid are you?"

"The sooner we get out of here, the sooner we can find your brother. Isn't that what you want?" Roy tested his knowledge.

Ed glared. "I want to find him without getting killed in the process, thank you very much!"

"The more time we spend here, the less chance we'll get out alive," Roy said, gripping the reins tightly and narrowing his eyes. All smirks were off of his face, not a flicker of one remaining. He was serious and his coal eyes burned like the fire they could fuel. "Get on."

Roy watched as emotions flickered through the alchemist's eyes; indecision, anger, frustration, fear, anything pertaining to the situation he hadn't already felt was there, mixing his thoughts and melding his mind into a puddle of irresolution.

Roy extended a hand, waiting for Ed's decision. The teenager looked between him and the ground, almost timidly, but still was able to keep his anger echoing through his body language. After what felt like an eternity, Ed growled to himself, shook his head, and sent Roy a glare. "I hate you for this."

And he took the hand offered to him.

Roy hauled the teenager up with ease onto the horse, letting the teen settle in front of him. Roy took the reins. This way, if Ed saw something, he could tell Roy quickly and the king could turn the horse. There was a reason he had brought Shadow with them.

Shadow was the most highly trained of all his steeds, the fastest, swiftest, and most powerful. It relied on orders instead of on its usual instinct, followed no other, and kept itself distant from emotional ties. That was how it could look at Mancer and not begin to react. Though its partner was dead in one of the most gruesome ways, Shadow was able to keep it locked away as if it were nothing.

How ironic.

Ed felt his face heat up as he settled in front of the king, not from anger so much as embarrassment. How was it that this king could hold so much power over him, even if he didn't know it? It just wasn't fair. Life wasn't fair. No, it wasn't so much life as the guy who created life. Ed blamed God. God had it in for sinners, so no wonder he had it in for Ed.

"...going?"

Ed snapped his head up. "What?"

"Which way are we going?" Roy repeated, looking down at the braided golden hair because he could not face Ed.

Ed put up his glare again before he sighed in what sounded like frustration. "Straight, then to the left. I have a hunch."

"Let's hope you're right," Roy said and he snapped the reins. The wind began to whip Ed's face as the horse sprang into a sudden gallop. Ed didn't want to say it aloud, but he hoped he was right, too.

Shadow proved to be a steadfast mustang indeed. The horse was swift, accurate in its turn. They went straight, and then veered to the left, which immediately turned back to a right curve. Shadow's eyes were as calculating as Ed's were as the blonde looked forward and to the side every now and then, ears listening for that air displacement or that difference in wind direction.

Ed suddenly snapped his to the left and without thinking, took the reins straight from Roy's hands, tugging them sharply to the side, making the horse whinny, but obediently turn right just as an explosion sounded behind them, nearly throwing them off the horse, who could hardly keep its own balance from impact of the ground tremor. Smoke and dirt kicked up; both Roy and Ed brought a hand to their mouths to keep from inhaling it.

Shadow whinnied again and slowed as Ed tugged the reins again, urging the horse to slow. Roy couldn't bring himself to demand an explanation from the teenager for his action. Had he not done that, they probably would have been killed because the reaction time would have been doubled and thus more dangerous to the point of being life threatening.

Ed's attention was focused on the clearing smoke from where a chuckle was heard. Roy turned his head to focus on the same area. He could distinctly make out a figure about as tall as Ed probably was, but no more than that. The figure's shadow behind the smoke became larger as the person stepped out, brushing off a shoulder with a swift hand.

Ed's eyes narrowed as the figure became visible. Roy, on the other hand, had his eyes slightly widened with confusion. However, even he could tell this person was dangerous; there was aura around that said this person was not human.

Stepping out from the smoke was a male, about as tall as Roy was, with pale white skin and long, spiked hair tinted green. The clothing did not consist of armor, but rather of ankle bands above bare feet, tight black shorts covered by an altered skirt, and a midriff top that clung like a second skin to an otherwise bare chest. Purple eyes were malicious as they took both Roy and Ed in. Roy felt a shiver run down his spine. What was this creature?

Suddenly, the creature spoke, a feminine voice, but a dryness about it that made it drip with menace. "So, looks like I've found a pipsqueak to toy with."

Ed growled and jumped off the horse before Roy could stop him. Roy dismounted quickly, his eyes never leaving Ed as the teenager took a stance, left leg behind the right. He spread out his arms and brought his hands together with a loud clap.

"Ed, we can't use alchemy here!"

Ed didn't listen to him. He brought his left arm back, as if to transmute his shoulder, but then revealed his notion by changing his entire automail arm into a long blade of chrome and silicon. What was surprising was that the forest, despite its own alchemic processes of negativity, did not stop the change and backfire it.

'_So that's the secret,' _Roy thought._ 'One cannot transmute his surroundings, but can transmute himself or what he touches that isn't connected with the forest. Ed must've figured that out beforehand...'_

Ed growled and took his stance again, placing his right arm—now a blade—out in front of him as he set an angry look reflecting in his eyes, more malicious than Roy had received. "You know, you caught me in a pretty bad mood!"

The creature laughed. "Oh, did I? Pardon my interruption then, half-pint."

Ed tried to ignore the insult. "Who are you!?"

"The name's Envy. But I suppose it shouldn't matter now, seeing as how I don't think I'll have any trouble killing off a shrimp."

"You're putting me into a really pissed-off mood and I already have to deal with the useless pompous ass behind me, so don't even get me started!" Ed shouted, shifting his stance ever so slightly.

Roy glared a hole into Ed's back, but it didn't seem to affect the teenager. He most certainly was _not_ useless. His flame alchemy could do wonders. And right now, he could... Roy stopped. He could... Roy felt a weight on his head. He could...

Dammit, he _was_ useless right now. And he felt even more useless as he watched Ed shift again, moving slightly, but surely.

Then Ed charged. And all Roy could do was stand and watch.


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N:** Jeez, I haven't updated in a while. Sorry about that, peeps. Second semester is killing me (surprisingly) and I re-wrote this about four or five times. Bleh. Anyway... Found some irony while writing this chapter and checking back on my reviews. See if any of you can guess what I'm thinking. It has to do with the number of reviews per chapter (before chapter seven, too). And I'm kind of surprised about something else. No one figured out something I put in last chapter that creates a connection. Look again! You'll find something! Give you a hint for it: It's somewhere before we switch off to Roy and Ed in the forest. Leave a review if you find it!

S.N.R.

P.S. I hate my Envy-muse in this chapter. He fights dirty... AND I CAN'T WRITE FIGHT SCENES! ARGH! –Throws keyboard out into snow and goes about setting up her new cordless desktop set, grumbling all the way—

**Summary:** You people should know it by now.

**Pairings:** Ed/Roy, Al/Martel (Marta) (others upon request)

**Warnings:** Shounen-ai/yaoi, language/swearing, blood/gore, violence, references to alcohol, and awkward moments

**Key:**

'_Blah'_ – Thoughts

"Blah" – Talking

**Recommended listening:** _Crimson Tide_ by Nightwish

Metal Heart

Chapter Nine

Ed charged, moving swiftly as he crossed the little ground between him and the homunculus—the _monster_—in front of him. He brought his right arm around, intent on slicing the male in half, but Envy jumped back, flipping twice gracefully before landing a few feet away, the smirk never leaving his face. Shrugging, Envy grinned. "You're a little slow, pipsqueak."

Ed growled, his eyes narrowing in a fierce glare and he ran forward again, whipping out his arm as fast as he could, the metal slicing through the air, but not making contact with the monster. Envy flipped back yet again, smirking as he went. Ed brought his the blade to his chest, moving his feet apart. And then he charged once more.

There was only the sound of the wind now, carrying the low grunts across the ground and up into the air, followed silently by the metal solid cutting the air it thrust through, dispersing particles that immediately reformed. It wasn't out of the ordinary, a blade slicing thin air, but every time it did, the small things were affected and the big things in life and the world were not.

Ed missed again and Envy vanished for a split second, seemingly to have evaporated like a warming mist. Speaking of mist... the same metaphor suddenly became a looming reality and began to settle around them, making it harder for Ed to see clearly.

Roy, off in his little corner by Shadow, suddenly couldn't see the alchemist. He looked left and right, trying to find the shadow of the petite teenager, but there was nothing except complete white. Roy held his fingers at ready before he remembered that this was Spiraalvormg Bos, the forest where alchemy was reversed, sent back at its owner with twice the force and double the damage. In Roy's case, even his original attack sent back at him—or even Edward—could do enough damage and there would probably be nothing left of them if the power was doubled.

Ed whipped his head right and left, searching, trying to reach every angle, every blinked spot until he was sure it would be safe to take a step. Gritting his teeth, he yelled out, "You dirty coward, Envy! This is low!"

But he was met with only a chuckle that reverberated throughout the forest, echoing in his chest and making his body stiffen. Then it seemed as if the mist was clearing. Ed looked up, watched the air for a few seconds, and then felt slightly relieved. The mist was clearing. So he'd hit a nerve. Ed grinned to himself and looked left, then right again, slowly this time.

Suddenly, he felt something collide with his gut, knocking the breath clean out of him followed by a few drops of blood. Ed fell backwards, coughing, wiping the blood from his lip with his left hand while he used the right one to help him stand. Ed glared ahead of him and he saw the familiar figure of Envy just a few yards away, still shrouded somewhat in the thinning mist.

Ed ran straight towards Envy, but before he plowed straight into the monster, Ed veered off to the right, causing Envy to jerk his head in that direction, only to be met with a steel fist, knocking his jaw into two different places and the force sent him sprawling to the ground. He felt a weight and it turned out to be Ed. Ed brought back his fist—his flesh one—and brought it back down, hitting Envy again. And again. And even again for good measure.

Envy growled at Ed and used a strength he didn't look as if he carried to throw the alchemist off of him, flinging him a few paces back, giving Envy enough time to get up and dust himself off. Roy nearly ran over to see if Ed was all right, feeling a little concerned, but Ed shot him a glare as soon as he took a step. Roy backed off, holding tight to Shadow's reins. He hated how useless he felt by all this.

And why the hell wouldn't Ed let him help?

Ed took in a deep, but sharp inhalation of air, trying to get his lungs to breathe normally again. He stood shakily on his knees, his golden eyes blazing with a fire that Roy had never seen before, the kind of fire that was hot, burning eternally, and yet it caused a cold shiver to run down his spine, as if the fire intended to kill as it was supposed to. No leash to hold it back.

Allowing a wide smirk to cross his lips, Envy wiped a trickle of blood off his face that had trailed down from the corner of his lip. "Is that seriously all you've got? Well, you know, this is all fun and games, but I have an ace up my sleeve."

Roy was confused by that. That monster had something Ed didn't? What was that supposed to mean?

Ed blinked a few times, apparently bewildered as well. His eyes lost some of their fire, this time showing more confusion than anger, but the anger did not vanish completely. He was still pissed off as hell. "What are you talking about, Envy?"

Envy raised an eyebrow, apparently amused, and then he grinned, beginning to glow with white light.

Composition no longer had a part in this forest. The white light was blinding as it consumed Envy from a source unseen, twisting and coiling around him like tendons grasping at his arms and legs, pulling them and re-shaping him, re-shaping his composition, changing his temperature, changing his eyes, his hair, anything that made him who he was. When the light faded, he was no longer there.

And in his place stood a boy, around Ed's height, wearing tight black pants and black tank top—very much like Ed—and the same red cloak. Long hair the color of gravel fell into two side-bangs around silver-gold eyes and the hair that came down to middle-back length was tied back into a high ponytail with a red hair tie. The mouth was a smile of innocence and the silver eyes shone like earthly diamonds.

Ed froze.

Roy watched as the alchemist froze up, his expression quickly transforming from anger and perplexity to utter shock and his coal eyes caught all the small movements like the twitch of the teen's mouth and the shiver running down the small back. Roy was a little surprised himself. The boy looked like a younger, more innocent version of Ed, just with different hair color and eyes. The eyes weren't burning like fire, but rather flowing with a soft watery kind of feel; eyes that cried a lot.

Roy felt a tug of worry hit him as he realized Ed wasn't moving, even as the boy walked towards him, still smiling in that innocent way of his. The boy stopped a good ten feet from Ed. Ed seemed to attempt at straightening his figure, but it was hard; it was as if every muscle in the teenager's body was creaking as he moved.

"Al...phonse?" Ed's voice sounded almost tired, laced with disbelief and hesitation, and his eyes were attempting to see if they could look through the figure in front of him. But they couldn't.

Roy blinked. _'Alphonse? Is that the name of his brother?'_

Roy wasn't sure if this Alphonse was in fact Ed's brother, but just from looking at them standing next to one another, they looked so much alike. It was a good a guess as any. But this wasn't the real person, Roy knew that much. When Envy had glowed, he must've changed into another figure. But was that even possible...?

The boy—Alphonse—held out his arms, smiling that innocent smile, and his eyes sparkling harmlessly behind brown veils. "It's me, brother... I found you."

Ed wasn't sure this was his brother. It seemed too coincidental that Envy had glowed and then Al had appeared. Something in his gut told him it didn't fit. It just... didn't fit right. Ed's eyes grew hard and the fire returned, blazing in all its anger. "You're not Al!"

Ed ran straight ahead, his arm poised to strike Envy across the cheek. Envy jumped back, avoiding the onslaught, and he still held up a smile—now sad in all its childishness—and he spoke in that soft voice again. "Brother, why are you trying to hurt me? It's me!"

Ed turned around, glaring at the monster. "Don't you dare say that! You're not Al!"

He ran forward for what felt like the millionth time that day, ready to drive his automail blade into the heart of the beast, but then he heard the voice again. The soft sweet voice—though slightly cracked in an attempt to sound like Alphonse—was still pleading and it reminded Ed painfully of a boy, barely nine, sniffling and crying in the dark corner of the bedroom.

"Brother, why does it hurt so much?"

Ed paused.

The boy smirked in victory and before Ed could react, he was hit painfully in the chest, right down the middle, and he was thrown back into the large hedges surrounding them, tangling in the branches, the wind carrying his startled cry with him. His chest exploded with pain blossoming from his sternum and for a moment, Ed thought he saw the darkness. An ever-looming darkness threatening to invade his senses and execute his mind before he could even know what was happening.

"_Brother... rette mich..."_

Roy let go of Shadow's reins as the horse whined and threw his front up and then down, stomping at the ground. Roy ran to where Ed had been thrown back into the hedges. He reached in and pulled the boy out, carefully, slowly. The boy's eyes were closed and he didn't look as if he were breathing. "Ed! Edward!"

From across the earth ground, Envy—still in the form of that young boy—cackled, hands on his waist and his eyes glinting with the victory in his vengeful game. Roy glared at him out of the corner of his eye before turning back to Ed, holding the boy in his arms, shaking him. "Edward! Wake up, dammit!"

But the boy was unresponsive.

* * *

He was floating, floating in a darkness he had seen only once before, perhaps twice. It was cold and lonely, but somehow, it was also comforting. The darkness was caressing his body—which had somehow become numb and sensitive at the same time—and his mind felt more at ease. Yet, why did there feel like he still had something to do?

"_Bruder..."_

Who was that calling for him? The voice sounded familiar. He had heard it many times before. He had spent time with that voice.

"_Es tut mir leid..."_

Who was apologizing? And what for? Wasn't it he who had failed? Failed at what? He couldn't remember. He didn't know. Not anymore.

"_Bruder... bitte, rette mich..."_

Save who?

"_Rette mich."_

Who are you?

"_Ich bin mich."_

Everyone is who they are. What's your name?

"_Ich bin dein Bruder."_

Who's brother?

"_Deiner."_

His? His brother? Wait... Al? Alphonse?

"_Hast du erinnert?"_

Did he remember? How could he have forgotten?

"_Bruder, rette mich!"_

Alphonse!

"_Rette mich!!"_

Ed suddenly felt the darkness leaving. No, he had to find Al. Al... Don't go! No! Alphonse!

"_RETTE MICH!"_

* * *

Breath entered his lungs and he shot upwards, his eyes snapping open. "Rette mich!"

Ed's eyes were wide, the large golden spheres glinting with realization and his golden hair was wildly strewn about, having become slightly undone from his braid. Roy breathed a sigh of relief as he saw the alchemist breathing again, his movements comforting against his arms that held the boy steady. "Edward..."

The teenager looked at Roy at the sound of his name and his eyes, just for a moment, showed an expression he hadn't seen in the eyes of the boy, showing what looked like gratitude, but something else. Before Roy could get a good look, the original look of anger and stubbornness had returned and the boy pushed himself away, attempting to get to his feet on his own.

Spitting out the strong metallic taste that had entered his mouth, Ed wiped his lips, smearing the trickles of blood across his cheek, and he glared across the open space at Envy, who had stopped laughing and was now staring at Ed in disbelief, an odd look for the face of the boy he had shape-shifted into. Ed took a stance, twisting his right arm to make certain that it still moved. It worked fine.

"It's true what you are," Ed said slowly, but strongly, an intense vibe in his voice. "A sin against nature who only lives to hide behind people's faces to get what you want. Not anymore..."

Roy felt a tug in his chest at the sudden determination Edward was showing. He admired that kind of strength. It was something he hadn't seen in someone in a while. Or probably ever, for that matter.

Envy frowned and he walked forward again. "Brother, I'm so sorry! You always taught me how to defend myself. You... you scared me. I thought you want to really kill me..."

"Bullshit!" With an echoing clap, Ed ran towards Envy, blade elongated. Ed used the momentum he had gotten from jumping into his run and he stretched out his arm, prepared to strike.

"Brother, please—!"

"You're_ not_ my brother!"

And Ed drove his blade right in the left side of the boy's body, piercing his heart; the alchemist's head hung low, his eyes hidden by his long golden hair, and his shoulders shook slightly. He pulled out the blade and took a few steps back, watching the body crumple to the ground, unmoving.

Ed let out his deep breath and shook his head, forcing himself to turn away from the corpse on the ground—which shifted back into Envy's green and black form. The teenager took shaky steps towards where Roy and Shadow were stationed, both watching him with wide eyes. Without looking at Roy or even the horse, Ed spoke in a quiet voice, so quiet that Roy almost didn't hear him. "Let's get out of here..."

"That would be wise," Roy said casually, but also quietly. Ed began to walk unsteadily towards the direction they had been heading beforehand. Roy watched him stumble for a moment before he asked, "Wouldn't you prefer to save your strength and ride Shadow?"

Ed stopped and glanced back at him, his eyes shouting "No", his aura screaming, "Get away from me", but his mouth was drawn into a thin, indecisive line. Roy knew that the boy's body was tired and they would need all their strength, so it made perfect sense.

Ed turned away and put his head down. "Fine."

Roy didn't comment on Ed's sudden cooperativeness or his change in attitude, but he didn't mind so much in the least. He tugged Shadow over to where Ed was standing and the teenager hoisted himself up, mounting the horse with little difficulty despite the obvious strain.

Roy mounted the horse behind Ed, drawing his arms forward to grip the reins tightly before snapping them. Shadow reared slightly before setting off into a brisk gallop. Ed said nothing as he used hand gestures to silently inform Roy on how to find the way towards where the exist was—at least, where the exit Ed had walked through last time. But he didn't say anything about that.

It wasn't long before sunlight broke through the endless trees and hedges, momentarily blinding Roy and he raised his arm to shield his eyes from the violent rays. He felt a weight on his chest and glanced down to see Ed leaning back against him. The boy's eyes were closed, not tightly against the sun, but rather gently and lazily... in tiredness.

Ed was asleep.

Roy blinked a few times, his mind taking a long time to process the information before a small smile found its way onto his face. Roy looked back up to see where Shadow was headed and he noticed that the horse was headed to a small river that led to a waterfall that tumbled off a cliff.

Roy tugged on the horse's reins, momentarily stopping the horse, and dismounting. He made sure Ed remained upright on the horse as he led Shadow to the river, some forty or fifty feet away from the cliff's edge.

And it was at that moment that Ed awoke, snapping his head up; he obviously hadn't noticed dozing off. He inhaled sharply and in a flash, he was off Shadow, his face tinted slightly pink as he knelt down by the river's edge. Roy glanced around Shadow as the horse drank from the river and saw the alchemist cleaning the open wounds he had received.

Roy walked over and knelt down beside him. "You sure took a beating."

Ed glanced sharply at him out of the corner of his eye before he went back to cleaning away the blood from his face and arms. "It's nothing... just a few scratches."

Roy watched in almost vivid fascination as the alchemist ran his fingers across his own arms, tracing bruises that were beginning to form and deep cuts he had cleaned. The tank top hid the bruises that Roy knew would appear after a day or two, but the main thing Roy was concerned about was the boy's chest. He had been hit in the sternum.

'_He should be dead,'_ Roy thought as the boy took a handful of water and let it fall down on his head and neck, his hands working their way through his braid and letting it loose, using more water to get the blood out. _'How is he still alive?'_

Ed noticed Roy staring and he froze for a moment. "What?"

Roy's eyes grew serious and he eyed Ed's face. "How are you still alive?"

Ed's eyes grew hard in response. "What, is that a bad thing?"

"No, just..." Roy reached over and placed his hand in the middle of Ed's chest, causing a pink tinge to settle on the boy's cheeks in both embarrassment and confusion. "You were hit here; your sternum. That kills a person. I thought you had died... how are you still alive?"

Roy's eyes looked up into Ed's, the coal black burning into the royal gold, trying to find their answer behind the sharp veils. It was an awkward position, really, with Roy's hand on the Edward's chest, having not known him for more than a week, but he wanted to know. What did he want to know? About how he hadn't died or just... more about him? Why was it so hard to tell?

Ed's blush darkened from light pink to a bright red and he stood up, pushing Roy away and turning around. "It's not that complex. It didn't break, so I didn't die. That simple..."

Ed placed his hand over his other wrist, feeling the heat on his cheeks and the back of his neck. _'What is this? My chest hurts, but it's not... not because of the fight or my condition... dammit!'_

Ed felt the pain move to his shoulder; he flinched at the sudden soreness of his aching muscles and he moved down the river, trying to get away from Roy. The king stood up and he strode after Ed. "Edward, talk to me."

Ed shot a harsh glare back at Roy. "Just shut up and leave me alone!"

Roy paused for a moment and Ed finally slowed, stopping a good few feet from the cliff's edge, listening to the waterfall. Ed felt the pain intensify and he gripped his right shoulder, feeling the familiar ache he always had, the one that rendered him immobile. He felt his knees give way and his vision become hazy for what felt like the millionth time in his life. Ed's eyes closed, feeling the familiar darkness.

'_No... Alphonse...'_

"Edwar—!"

And Edward stumbled off the cliff.

* * *

**Dictionary:**

Rette mich – Save me (German)

Ich bin mich – I am me (German)

Bruder – Brother (German)

Deiner – Yours (German, casual)

Ich bin dein Bruder – I am your brother (German)

Hast du erinnert? – Have you remind (remembered)? (German) In here, I tried to make it sound like "Remember?" or "Do you remember?"


	10. Chapter 10

**A/N: **Hee, this chapter was kinda hard, to be honest. I kept thinking, "Ok, there's so many ways I can do this. I could time skip ahead and then flashback, I could pick up where I left off, or I could be somewhere in the middle and have the time skip with flashbacks, but begin relatively where I left off. Or I could add in something and take out what I was gonna put in this and put it in chapter eleven instead and..." God, it was so hard to choose! I ended up just writing this and I hope what I put in it will make up for its shortness, despite Roy being kinda OOC and stupid. And sorry the ending was rushed. Thanks to all my reviewers!

S.N.R.

P.S. Shout out to one of my favorite reviewers. "GreedxEd? You're there, right? Ok, need to tell you something... GET INSTANT MESSENGER OR SOMETHING RIGHT FRIKKING NOW! NEED TO TALK TO YOU!" That is all... Ok, no, seriously, I kinda need your help and LJ is being a jerk, so I can't use it. And sucks sometimes. Preferably Yahoo or MSN if you can. Thanks!

**Summary:** You people should know it by now.

**Pairings:** Ed/Roy, Al/Martel (Marta) (others upon request)

**Warnings:** Shounen-ai/yaoi, language/swearing, blood/gore, violence, references to alcohol, and awkward moments

**Key:**

'_Blah'_ – Thoughts

"Blah" – Talking

**Recommended listening:** _Still I'm Sad_ performed by Gregorian Chants

Metal Heart

Chapter Ten

"Edward!"

Roy watched it in slow motion. Ed stumbled, his face contorted in pain, eyes half-lidded and closing still, his blonde hair flying around his face with the wind, tripping over his own feet and falling back into the open air, right off the edge of the cliff. Roy heard his heart race and the blood begin to pound in his ears as his mind was brought back to speed and he regained control of his body, rushing forward to the edge.

God only knew how high this cliff actually was. With normal cliffs north of Spiraalvormg Bos, they would have no sharp objects at the bottom and the water was deep. But it was probably a good 200 meters. That was around 650 feet. It was a good guess—probably accurate. If that was true, Edward could die from the fall alone. Therefore, Roy did the most reckless, irrational, and idiotic thing a man of his stature could do as he neared the rim of the cliff when Ed disappeared from sight.

He jumped off after him.

Sure, it looked stupid and at the time, Roy knew it was, but he couldn't just stand there and run down the cliff in a safe manner. It would take too long and he didn't have that kind of time. Faintly, as the wind began to rush past him and whistle into his ears, he heard Shadow neigh from the top of the cliff, showing displeasure in the sudden action but the sound was soon lost to the wind.

Roy began to think quickly. He faced front and saw Ed not ten feet from him and falling fast. His automail was probably weighing him down and Roy narrowed his eyes in frustration at the recognition. Though he was nearing the boy, he was still too far from him to reach out and grab him. But then what would he do? Roy sudden realized he couldn't do anything but brace the boys fall. Even then, they both could die.

Roy remembered the waterfall behind them, the rushing river falling off the cliff with them. Despite what people said, it would help, especially now. Roy angled his body as straight as possible in an attempt to make him go faster. He didn't do it soon enough. He watched Ed hit the water and sink below it and not a second later, Roy—his arms bracing him against his face, holding his breath—hit the water.

The force from the fall against the rushing water against his arms made him think they broke for a moment, but the thought was lost as the water—cold as ice stuck needles through his clothes and into his pale skin. He clenched his eyes shut against the water, but then opened them, trying to see through the blue liquid. Edward was not that far away and he began to push his body downward to where he saw the free-floating golden hair. His braid had come undone.

The light from above shining down through the water outlined Ed and for a moment, Roy almost thought he looked like a fallen angel with, floating in the waters, his hair splayed out and in, outlining his face, his eyes closed as if he were dreaming and his lips slightly parted.

But that didn't stop Roy from reaching out and grabbing Edward's arm, using his strength to pull Ed towards him. The boy was heavy in the water, thanks to the density of it and his automail, but Roy knew he couldn't let him die here. Not like this.

Roy felt his chest tighten and knew his breath had gone, leaving him to struggle to find air he knew was not there and the surface seeming miles away. Roy—his lungs screaming at him, begging him for air—pushed upwards, dragging Ed with him. The surface was there; he could see the sun shining down on it, breaching the dense clear cover. Just a little further. A little more. Please, let it be close. Just a little—

Roy broke the surface, inhaling deeply and coughing, his lungs greedily taking the air functioning again. Roy brought up the teenager from the water, hoping Ed would react the same way, but no.

The boy was unconscious.

...Or dead.

Roy narrowed his eyes and pushed through the water, making sure to keep Ed above it, and brought them to the shore. He laid Ed on the bank, crawling on after, his hair dripping wet and his clothes almost sticking to him. He leaned over Ed, shaking him. "Edward!"

Roy leaned down and listened, his ear against Ed's chest, trying to listen for that familiar thump that pushed blood and oxygen through everyone's body. There wasn't one.

Ed had no heartbeat.

Almost angrily, Roy put his hands on Ed's chest and began to pump the boy's heart himself in time with his own. He leaned down without a second thought, took Ed's lips without hesitation, and breathed into him, almost as if he were passing on his life to Ed. He pulled back and pushed the boy's chest again to try to get the oxygen to flow through his lungs, to try to get the teenager's heart to take in his breath. "Dammit, Ed!"

He repeated the notion several times before suddenly his breath was interrupted by a cough erupting from the boy's mouth and he pulled back almost immediately in hope. Edward coughed and water burst from his mouth, spraying across the dry sand. His lungs forced out the water that had drowned him and soon, his coughing fit died down, taking in a normal breath. The eyes were still closed and his body movements were minimal. Roy shook him lightly to wake him up, but no. The boy was out like a candle that had been smothered by shadows.

But he was alive.

Roy breathed a sigh of relief, mainly for the fact he knew CPR. Roy eased the boy into a sitting position and supported him with his arm behind the small of the alchemist's back. Roy put two fingers to his lips and whistled. It echoed over the trees and through the clouds, carried by the wind back to the waterfall and up, where a black shape reared on hind legs before disappearing.

Roy used his arm around the teenager's back to bring Ed close, the golden head resting against his chest, the long wet hair draping down his arm and hand. Small drops of water clung to Ed's eyelashes and others slid down his neck and arms, hitting the soft sand and disappearing. The teen's automail arm shone in the sun, glinting back at the happy sun, proving existence even now while his left leg of metal—through the rips in his black pants—responded with harshness almost, so unlike that of the arm. But they both held strength; a dazzling strength with motivation behind its back carried by one with so many burdens on already tired shoulders.

Ironic.

Roy listened closely to Ed's breathing to make sure he was still alive even as he kept him in the sitting position. Roy closed his eyes and remembered when he had first saw Ed in his hall, not two or three days ago if he was remembering right. The boy's attitude had changed, if only slightly. He no longer yelled at Roy, but his cold tone hadn't gone away.

Cold. Like metal.

Roy had wondered back then if the boy was truly all metal, not just his arm and leg. His strength hard as steel, his dedication set in stone. And the thought had faintly come to mind once, the thought of if Ed's heart was metal, too.

A metal heart.

The thought would have amused Roy a few days ago, but seeing the boy, traveling with him—if only for a short while, seeing him fight, seeing the dedication reflecting in his fiery golden eyes... it made him think different. He wasn't doing it on purpose. It was just... there.

Roy glanced down at boy before a bittersweet smirk—almost that of a smile—crossed his lips, and his eyes softened somewhat in a sudden understanding, something he had never done in front of anyone. But no one was around. So it was all right. "You're a handful, aren't you, Edward..."

The boy didn't respond and Roy didn't expect him to. Roy lifted a hand and slowly stroked the side of Ed's face for a moment, almost as if admiring the smooth skin under his fingertips. The only reaction, if one could call it that, was Ed's lips slightly parting, breathing out and then back in.

Roy was broken from his trance as he heard a faint whinny followed by a snort and turned his head, glancing back to see Shadow prancing towards them, throwing his proud black head back in triumph for being able to find the safe way down from the cliff. Roy reached back with his free hand and stroked the horse's mane as Shadow dipped his head, accepting the affection.

Roy slid his arm under Ed's legs and picked up the boy, surprising himself when he found him to be so light. Roy though he would've been heavy due to the automail, but he wasn't. Ed continued to amaze him.

Shadow dipped down on his knees and sat down, giving Roy better access to place Ed on his back. As a horse, he could sense feelings. He knew something was wrong. As a loyal servant to his master, he felt he had to help in some way. His black eyes reflected that and he made movement with his head. Roy placed Ed upright on Shadow's back before getting on himself, settling himself behind Ed. He placed his arm son either side of Ed and griped the reins. Shadow began to stand, working out his joints before beginning to walk across the sand.

He trotted, only going faster when prompted by Roy. The king looked down to the top of Edward's head, expecting him to wake up soon and ask where they were and why the hell he was wet. At least, that was the scenario in Roy's mind.

Suddenly, Shadow reared, whinnying loudly and it took Roy a moment to get him under control. He reached over past Ed and pet Shadow's mane. Then Roy saw the arrow stuck in the ground before them. Roy frowned and gripped the reins tightly, knowing that Shadow knew the command to bolt if necessary.

"Don't move."


	11. Chapter 11

**A/N: **Hee, WOW. Within an hour of updating, I get six reviews right off the bat. HOLY FRIKKING COW, PEOPLE, YOU PRACTICALLY ATTACKED ME! But no worries! It makes me happy that I can write stories for people's enjoyment and it motivates me to try to update as soon as possible. Thanks, peeps!

S.N.R.

P.S. For those that care... THIS IS THE LAST CHANCE TO REQUEST A PAIRING OR AN IMPLIED PAIRING! I AM NOT TAKING REQUESTS AFTER THIS CHAPTER! That is all.

**Summary:** Gonna stop putting this thing in later chapters

**Pairings:** Ed/Roy, Al/Marta, Hughes/Gracia, and _possible_ Havoc/Riza (Still unsure on this last one)

**Warnings:** Shounen-ai/yaoi, language/swearing, blood/gore, violence, references to alcohol, awkward moments, and the "oh-my-god-I-can-write-straight-pairings" factor

**Key:**

'_Blah'_ – Thoughts

"Blah" – Talking

**Recommended listening:** _Brothers (Instrumental)_ by Michiru Oshima

Metal Heart

Chapter Eleven

It had been a slow day at Tsuki-kage. The townspeople had watched their king ride off with the blonde-haired, golden-eyed stranger, leaving them to question who would run the government and all the affairs, who will take care of them. And yet, even as they pondered that for the next day, nothing had fallen out of order. Everyone expected it to immediately, but everything was in working order. The rumor floated around that their king had left First Archer—Riza Hawkeye—in command and that he would return while others claimed that he had abandoned them and the female archer had assumed the role as ruler.

Neither was exactly, true, really. But who was to know?

Maes Hughes let out a sigh, scratching his head as he stood on the balcony, staring out across the community surrounding the palace. He was wearing black pants with fiery red streaks running up one of the legs and a red tunic top, this time streaked down the back with black flames, being the contrast to his bottom clothing. As he leaned on the balcony railing, his head in his hand, his green eyes scanned the villages beyond the palace, hoping to see a familiar black horse accompanied by a familiar brown one. It was mid-day, three days later.

Roy hadn't contacted them yet.

Of course, this made Hughes worry to the point where he would subconsciously begin to pace on the balcony, looking up every now and then. He began to neglect his duties until Riza came in with her quiver on her back, bow in hand, and asked him why he wasn't doing what he was supposed to do. He couldn't help it, really. He naturally worried.

But if Roy hadn't contacted them, then could he have—

"Daddy, daddy!"

Hughes blinked and turned around, seeing his young daughter Elysia run into his room, holding out her hands to him, racing to his side to hug him. She was wearing a long flowing skirt, colored a bright red color with white streaks going down the sides—her own mother's handiwork no doubt—and a pink top with sleeves that cut off three-fourths of the way down her arms. Her hair was tied up into two pigtails. Her hair had gotten a little longer over the years, so instead of like spiky balls, they were now strands that spiked down.

"Hey, you," Hughes grinned a little as he bent down to hug his little girl. Well, she wasn't so little anymore, being ten, but she was still small to him and he picked her up, holding her on his arm and balancing her with his other. "How's my cute little Elysia?"

The girl smiled big. "I came to play with you, daddy!"

A knock came at the door and a woman walked in. Her hair—dirty ash blonde to match Elysia's, but cut short—walked in, wearing similar clothes, a red skirt that fell to her knees, but her streaks were black, not pure white and her top was red as well.

"Well, if it isn't my lovely wife, coming to see me," Hughes grinned.

Gracia smiled, shaking her head before walking over to stand at his side. "Of course. Elysia insisted we come see you, even if you were busy, with Lord Roy being gone."

Hughes let out a sigh. "Yeah, First Archer Hawkeye has full run of the place and she's working us into an early grave."

Hughes made a face and added emphasis by groaning and Elysia giggled. "Daddy, you're making funny faces!"

Hughes raised an eyebrow. "Really? How about this?" He made another face; sticking out his lower lip and narrowing his eyes, making him look as if he were pouting, but serious at the same time. Elysia giggled again and clapped her hands. Though she was ten now, she still acted as she did when she had been three and only with her parents around. It was sweet, really.

Hughes smiled and turned to Gracia, who had on her trademark smile, but worry was glinting in her eyes. "I'm worried."

Hughes blinked a few times. "About what?"

"I'm not sure," Gracia brought up a hand, her fingers curled together and she glanced over the balcony at the sun, which now began to set. "I just get a bad feeling about this."

Hughes frowned and placed his free arm around her shoulders. "He'll be fine. I know Roy. He'll come back soon."

'_I hope,'_ was how it ended in Hughes' head.

* * *

"Don't move."

Roy turned his head sharply to where the voice came from, his grip subconsciously tightening on the reins; keeping his limbs locked in place should Shadow have to bolt any time soon. "Who's there?"

There came the soft crunching of underbrush and two shadows—one tall and one short—still hidden by the trees caught Roy's eye. Unconsciously, Roy took an arm and tightened his hold on Ed against him. Why was the teenager asleep of all times? He would probably know who these people were.

Stepping out from the darkness were the two shadows, one carrying a bow with a quiver attached to his back—that was the tall one—while the other, the short one, was stumbling with a wooden cane, sporting a long white beard. Their skin was dark, brown to the point of the color of drying mud and their eyes were a deep blood red, staring at Roy as if he were scum. At least, the first one was. The second one—the old man—had his eyes closed. Roy vaguely wondered if he was blind.

One of them stepped forward—the one with the bow in hand. "What business do you have here, white man?"

Roy, for a second, didn't know how to respond to the question or the insult that had been added to it. He blinked a few times before he spoke, and spoke slowly, trying to calculate quickly in his head on how to handle the situation. "I'm just traveling... looking for someone."

"'Looking for someone', he says," spoke the first man to the one behind him and Roy noticed the grip on his bow tightening.

"We don't want to trouble anyone," Roy added, taking the normal detour, knowing it wouldn't always work like this. "We just need to get through here..."

"Why should we let a white man like you do that?" asked the first one, crossing his arms as the shorter one attempted to speak, but was cut off. "You're all the same; you enter our lands, saying you're innocent and then you try to force an oppressive law on our beliefs. Why should you be any different?"

Roy hesitated to answer that. He could say he was a king, but that wouldn't mean anything. He could say that he was an alchemist, but that could get him and Ed killed on the spot, if his assumptions were correct. Roy let out a small sigh.

"I probably am no different than any other white man you see stride in here like a pompous ass and force you to follow him," the king began slowly. "But I have no army behind my back that I would call upon anyway to hurt you, nor do I wish to cause any trouble just to get through. I just need to find my friend some help and then find his brother."

The two men were silent for a moment, the first one's mouth drawn into a thin line, thinking over the response while the second man frowned, letting out a "hmm" sound. The first one took a step back and flicked his wrist. For a moment, Roy thought he was setting the bow in position to use to attack them again, but he flipped it in a way that showed that he was withdrawing, letting the second man handle this.

Said man stepped forward, hobbling with his cane, his long white beard trailing down before him, as if leading him towards the horse. The closed eyes "looked" up at them and Roy realized that eyes were not closed, just narrowed to the point where they would let in enough light to focus and enough so that he could see, but appear blind to the onlooker. Roy remained still, feeling that if he moved, he'd find an arrow in his back and that was something he seriously didn't need at the moment. He didn't notice his arm which he had placed around Edward's waist was tightening, keeping the boy both from falling and protecting him in the same manner as before.

The man stared at him for a while before he moved to Ed and his eyes seemed to open a little. Then, something clicked and his gasp nearly startled Roy. "Ah! Yes, I recognize this boy..."

Roy blinked. Now _that _was completely unexpected. "You... know him?"

The man looked up at him and the age began to show in the wrinkles along his face that Roy had hardly noticed beforehand. "Yes, this is the metal boy, the one who helped us not two years ago. He's grown a bit and his hair is longer than I remember, but yes, I know him. Skillful alchemist, but he helps us without using it, using natural ways instead to respect our customs and keep us together. Yes, I remember him..."

Roy didn't realize he was gaping until the man with the bow snorted at his look. Roy quickly closed his mouth as the old man went on. "He had a boy at his side, too, if I'm not mistaken. A boy looking like him, but his hair was like our skin and his held the most gentle look I had ever seen from an outsider."

Roy swallowed. "His brother... Alphonse?"

The old man nodded. "Yes. But let's not dwell on memories, my friend. I see he needs help. You may come with us if you are true to your word. We owe him much."

The man with the bow became serious. "But Elder, what if they—"

The old man—the Elder, apparently—held up his hand, waving it slightly to make the man lower his bow. Roy looked between the two, seeing the tenseness wafting off the archer in contrast to the gentleness seeping from the old man. Roy then nodded and bowed his head a little. "Thank you."

The Elder chuckled a little. "It's no problem, my friend."

And so, despite the archer's silent protests echoing in the silence around them, they began to walk through the trees. Shadow was quiet, knowing that this was still a tight situation. Roy didn't grip the reins quite as harshly as before, but he was still just as tense as the horse was. Ed was still unconscious. Roy noticed the archer stealing glances at them every now and then; it made the king somewhat suspicious and uncomfortable. The Elder who walked by the horse's side began to talk about himself and his tribe of people with red eyes and dark skin, shunned by the world.

Yes, they were Zigeunians. They were the ones cast out of many other lands since the Civil War six years ago, and forced to live up in the hot northwestern part of the country, in the deserts of Zigeune and in the open valley of Sahah, despite the fact that they could move into Sneeuw, as it had been deserted not long ago. However, the weather there was deadly and many would say it wasn't worth it. The Elder went on to explain how Ed had helped them, with Alphonse behind him all the way.

Roy listened to the history with fascination reflecting in his coal eyes. He had never known the truth behind it all. Sure, stories had gone around, but they spoke of the Zigeunians as barbaric monsters that would gladly take lives, as if the intent to kill was always in each pair of bloody red eyes. But now that Roy heard their side, all those stories made him furious inside and he wanted to hit everyone who spoke of the brown-skinned people badly. He felt they were nothing of the sort. Roy also felt admiration towards Ed for helping these people through their hardest times, despite behind rejected at first. In addition, he had found out that Ed was only fifteen at the time, so since that had been two years ago, Ed was now seventeen.

Seventeen. But he was still so young...

"Ah, here we are," the Elder spoke softly, so much so that Roy hardly heard him. He looked up and gasped. They had breached through the trees and before Shadow's hooves lay desert streaking off to the left, heading so far northwest that Roy lost sight of the endpoint in the dusty wind. Branching straight in front and then right, he saw tents set up with a few old run-down houses mixed in here and there from the old Sahah village.

Roy let his lips part in a silent gasp at the sight. He had never seen people survive in such conditions and he vaguely wondered how they ended up like that. Had the Elder not told him the story along the way so whole-heartedly, millions of questions would probably be springing from Roy's mouth. But he kept his mouth shut—despite the new questions rising even now—and used the reins to silently command Shadow to follow the Elder as he made his way down the hill.

As they entered the town, many people sharing the same red eyes and dark skin turned to see the new incomer behind the Elder on the proud black horse, the two white men riding atop the animal. Some of the Zigeunians shrank back a little and many of the women retreated to their tents. The men stayed out, watching the horse follow the Elder down row upon row of tents and old building, some showing dis_trust_, others dis_gust_, but all curious, like cats suddenly seeing water for the first time, but getting the feeling that something bad would happen should they touch it.

The Elder stopped in front of a large erected tent that hid the small house underneath, the old house made of wood and stone that was in surprisingly good condition, considering its obvious use. The wood was old and somewhat rotted and the stone color was wearing thin and faded. The archer from before opened the door for the Elder and the old man walked inside while Roy stopped Shadow, dismounting slowly and carefully, mindful of all the stares from outside the tent that peered in.

Roy reached up, took Ed by the underarms, and brought him down off the horse as Shadow settled back on his knees, making it easier to take the teenager from his back. Roy shifted Ed in his arms and carried him bridal style to the door, but he didn't pass through it. He waited until the Elder stuck his head back out and beckoned for him to walk in. It was all right.

Roy warily entered the small hut-like structure and a few people came up to him, all men, but obviously healers. Though their eyes were chary of Roy, all the king did was stand still as they slowly took Ed from his arms and to an old bed, laying him down carefully.

Roy turned to the Elder. "Is there anything I can do?"

The Elder seemed to smile under his white beard and mustache. "Just be patient with us. We know this boy's stipulation better than anyone."

"You know about his—"

"Condition? Yes, we know all too well," the Elder mused a little. He settled himself on the ground by the bed, having no chair to sit in. Roy politely stood behind him. The men that had taken Ed from him now covered the boy with blankets and went about getting some fresh water for starters.

Roy watched Ed for a moment. The boy's face was serene, almost at peace, but the few lines above his eyes were more than to suggest he still felt pain. The body hardly moved, the metal now seemingly dulled for being inside the semi-dark hut.

Then Ed stirred. The tissue above his eyes clenched and a small groan escaped his lips. He turned on his side—his left one—and his left hand came to grip his right arm. His teeth were gritted in pain and his legs shifted slightly, as if he were trying to run from something. The Elder frowned. "He hasn't improved... that's worrisome."

Roy glanced from Ed to the Elder for a split second. "He didn't tell me too much about it. Can you?"

The Elder shook his head. "It's not my story to tell, stranger. But, if he wants to tell you, you'll be around to hear it."

Roy blinked for a moment before he nodded. "I'll try to be."

"You know, I was surprised by you, stranger," the Elder went on, his hands stroking his cane once before he glanced back at Roy. "I can see you hardly know him and yet you want to help him so much. Why is that?"

Roy was taken aback by the question. "It's a little bit of a long of a story, really..."

Ed turned again on the bed, distracting Roy from saying anything else and the boy's body curled into a ball, the left hand not loosening its grip from the right prosthetic arm. The men came back with water. One tried to sit Ed up, but the boy subconsciously rejected the helpful notion and fell back on the bed, curling away. One tried to hold Ed down, but the boy thrashed. Roy wanted them to help Ed and if this was how it was going to go, then fine. But... the expression on Ed's face. It was so pained, so frightened, and the boy wasn't even awake.

He never wanted to see it again.

Roy intervened then, against his better judgment. When the men backed off for a minute, he took that as his opening to cross the distance between him and bed and he sat down, pulling Ed up and putting him close to his chest without a word, one hand on Ed's right shoulder and the other absentmindedly stroking the golden hair. Roy closed his eyes, his face set into a fairly hopeful expression that Ed would calm down.

"Come on, Ed. You won't let something like this keep you from everything," Roy muttered into the boy's ear. "Here I thought you were strong. Calm down. Calm down _now_..."

At first, the boy thrashed against him, too, his hands trying to hit him, but missing and his legs moving as if he were running again, but soon it died down and Ed rested comfortable in Roy's arms, now in a peaceful sleep rather than his fitful one not moments before. Roy let out a small, satisfied sound and refused to let his grip go on the boy. He kept him close, the golden head against his chest as if he were a human pillow and the body loosely straight, unafraid.

The Elder smiled. "You care for him greatly, don't you, stranger?"

Roy glanced back at the Elder, somewhat confused by the sudden words that sounded more like a statement than a question, but he eventually frowned and nodded.

The Elder continued to smile under his white hair. "He seems to find comfort in you."

Roy blinked at that, too, and glanced down to the sleeping boy. "No, he's not. He's just..." Well, Roy didn't really know _how_ to explain it.

The Elder chuckled a little. "I'd suggest... that you wait and talk to him when he wakes up. He may confide in you, stranger."

Roy frowned at that. Ed? Find comfort in him? Tell him things he wanted to hear? The thought was optimistic and hopeful, but in reality, Roy knew Ed would try to refrain from doing something like that. The boy was secretive, and stubborn at that, but he was still just that: a boy. A child, who had obviously seen too many things to be as young as he was.

Roy tightened his grip a little. Why did he care so much? Why? It was at that moment that Roy realized it all.

He had fallen for Ed.

And fallen hard.

* * *

**Note:** Apparently, I've come up with alternate names for the people/tribes/groups in FMA. Here's what I've got so far:

_Zigeunians _– Ishbalans (Nuff said)

_Tsukians _– People from Central Headquarters (Roy, Riza, Havoc, etc)

_Fuchlanders _– People from Risembool (people like Winry, Pinako, etc)

_Trementians_ – Similar to people in Xenotime, but with evil complexes (people like Russell, Fletcher, etc)

_Welamians_ – People from Dublith (people like Izumi, Sig, Mason, etc)

_Sneeuwians_ – Once a group of arctic outsiders (but they're all dead now)

_Apredizagemians _– Xing people (people like Ling Yao, etc)

_Drachians_ – Barbaric outsiders (random people; think Vikings, really, but no sea or ships)

_Fumeès _– People that are only mentioned every now and then (people like Roy's teacher/Hawkeye's father, etc)

_Tierrians _– Kinda like South and East headquarters mixed, really (People like Armstrong and all the left out peeps)

_Opalians _–Rush Valley kind of people (people like Paninya, Dominic, etc)

_Zukonians _– Undecided, considering there are eight different towns in there with different names. I'll get back to you all on this one.

And that's about it. Just thought I'd put that in so it'd be less confusing, but I've probably made it worse now, haven't I? –Nervous laugh–


	12. Chapter 12

**A/N: **I can't even use my AP Euro Exam card now. Ah, well. Those who don't know, I had an AP Euro History Exam on Friday and had been using the past two months in order to study for it and the few updates in that time were for other stories that wouldn't leave me alone! Curse you, plot bunnies! Oh, well, at least I got around to updating... I think... not sure this was worth the long wait for you guys. I'm sorry. I'm a bad author... oh, and for those who were looking way back when for the "irony" of the number of reviews, it was that people reviewed my story more when someone was bashing it. Made me kinda sad and happy at the same time. Meh.

S.N.R.

P.S. I have a surprise for reviewer GreedxEd for this fic as a thank-you for helping! Look out for it! It'll probably be in the next chapter, though, considering how slow I'm going...

**Pairings:** Ed/Roy, Al/Marta, Hughes/Gracia, _possible_ Havoc/Riza

**Warnings:** Shounen-ai/yaoi, language/swearing, blood/gore, violence, references to alcohol, awkward moments, and the "oh-my-god-I-can-write-straight-pairings" factor

**Key:**

'_Blah'_ – Thoughts

"Blah" – Talking

**Recommended listening:** _All'improvviso Amore_ by Josh Groban

Metal Heart

Chapter Twelve

It was late now, with stars shining across the sky overhead as dots of white speckled across the dark navy veil that blanketed the sky. There were a few clouds, one large and dark enough to mean an oncoming storm, but that was of little concern. The wind was slow and steady, so if it did happen to be a storm, it would take a few hours to reach the encampment. The tight, tree bower keeping the tents of Ziguenians hidden shifted in the breeze, the leaves never falling and lightly caressing each other, like a large family finding solace in one another.

Roy sat just outside of the house he had been in not too long before, sitting on the small one step by the door by the open window with broken glass. There were shards around by Roy's feet, but he paid them no mind. His hair was tousled messily about his head and that was all thanks to his hands that had been raking his hair for the past hour.

Or was it "hours"? How much time had passed, anyway? It couldn't have been that long, but as Roy's dark eyes drew up to the night sky and focused on the moon that seemed to have his focus solely on him, he realized the time that had passed him by and that he should check on Ed.

_Ed._

Roy slumped back down against the wall, covering his eyes with one hand while the other draped across his waist lazily. How had it come down to this? He had only met the boy days before and now he was obsessed about him! The long golden hair, the deep bullion eyes, the childish but cute face that never smiled, and—and had he just called Ed "cute"?

"Shit," he mumbled, rubbing at his temples with his forefingers and thumbs. "How am I supposed to handle this...?"

'_Pretend otherwise?'_ his mind suggested in light of the question.

Yes, that was a good idea. A very good idea. Yet, at the same time, it felt cheap; not in money-sense, but rather the idea of pretending otherwise feelings would just lead him to do something stupid. Like jumping off the cliff. That _had_ been a stupid move, now that Roy thought about it, but had he not done that, Ed would have died. He couldn't risk failure in this. It was not so much Roy was beginning to understand Ed's behavior and the attitude he received from the teenager, but more so the deep feelings that the king had just noticed sleeping in his chest.

How could he have fallen for Ed? Roy himself didn't believe in the shit known as "love at first sight", but how could this be anything else? It was the only thing he could describe it as. Sure, he had been curious with Ed for the first two or three days when he was brought to the palace and his cold distance from him before the forest, but how could the curiosity over such things become infatuation? It just didn't make sense.

Roy shook his head quickly, running a hand through his tousled hair. The situation had become far more complicated than he'd ever had imagined.

* * *

His mouth was dry. Why was it dry? Oh, right... they'd cut off his water supply. He should've remembered that...

Al blearily opened his eyes to the accustomed darkness, instinctively moving his hands to rub at his eyes, but found he once again couldn't and mentally beat himself for forgetting they were still bound to the wall. Al shut his eyes. Of course...

Alphonse had been forgetting things more easily with each passing day. The lack of good food and water given to him was making his body the very definition of the term "malnutrition". He had lost an odd some amount of weight and he felt his entire body becoming more tired. He slept more often than not, was quiet more often than not, and hardly ever sang his mysterious song now.

Alphonse knew he was breaking inside. It was only a matter of time. He'd be broken, then broken again, before _they_ found no more use for him and killed him. But now _they_ had to keep him alive. And all because they wanted to get their hands on Edward.

'_Brother...'_ his mind whispered the word. Beyond his cracked lips, he muttered, "Bruder..."

Marta, sitting next to him, frowned in the darkness of the cell. She reached up a hand and put it on top of his head, patting his hair. "Don't worry, kid. We'll find a way out of this."

Al opened his eyes again and tried to see through the darkness at the chimera, but failed, and just settled for nodding against her hand. The hand slipped down to his cheek, caressing it and Al felt a small blush creep on his face. Marta's small, almost silent laugh was enough to make the boy feel a little happy inside, knowing there was someone there for him.

* * *

"You're an ass, you know that?"

Roy jumped up at the irritated voice and whirled around to face Edward, who looked just as he had gotten out of bed. His blonde hair was tousled, loosened from its braid completely and his clothes were slightly wrinkled from the tossing and turning he must have done while asleep. His goldenrod eyes seemed to have gotten deeper with the moon shining on them and the teenager leaned against the doorframe of the tented hut, his arms crossed over his chest, giving Roy a pissed off look.

Regaining his composure, Roy stood straight and tried to level his gaze as he stared at Ed's eyes, trying not to blush or show he was thinking about the teen. "I see you've finally woke—"

"Don't give me that formal bullshit," Ed exclaimed angrily. "It's quite clear I'm awake!"

"Yes, of course," Roy muttered to himself before raising his voice. "How do you feel?"

That seemed to strike a bad nerve. Ed practically exploded in his face. "How do I feel?! Like total _shit_! You make everything awkward on top of that cliff by acting like a freakin transvestite, and then I fall off a frikkin three-story _cliff_, into the river where I guess I practically _drowned_, and then get brought here when I fucking _told_ you not to go into _any_ villages, no matter how dire the situation! But do you listen to me? No! Of course you don't! You kings will always be pompous asses who act like you're the heroine when it's really people like _me_ who are risking their lives out here!"

Roy winced at the tone. Ed was making only a little sense. Where was all this coming from? Did he just need a reason to yell? He'd helped these people, so why wasn't he accepting their care? Or was it just that they were keeping him back from charging forward into danger again? It was pure concern and Ed wasn't giving a damn about it, apparently. And when did Roy call him an incompetent fool? That was Hughes' job to tell Roy... "Edward—"

"I don't see why I let you come in the first place! I would've been fine on my own!"

Now _that_ hit one of Roy's nerves. "Can you seriously say that?!" Roy had crossed the few feet between them in an instant and grabbed Ed's automail wrist, intent to keep him from fighting back. "You nearly died twice, Edward! If you didn't have me there to help, you _would've_ died! Then who would've saved your brother?"

"Let go of me!" Ed attempted to pull back, his eyes once more wild, but laced with a fear almost unseen by Roy's dark charcoal eyes. "I don't need your help! If it weren't for you, I would've found my brother already!"

"How would you have done that?" Roy challenged, looking the boy straight in the eye.

"I know these lands far better than _you_ do!" Ed exclaimed, pulling back his wrist from Roy's grip. "And I'll have you know that thanks to you, I'd make more enemies than friends out here."

"Then why haven't you beaten me to bloody pulp and ridden off on Mancer... or even Shadow?" Roy asked, once more challenging Ed's common sense.

Ed didn't answer. He just glared at Roy with all the anger and irritation he could muster into his bullion eyes. If looks could kill, Ed would've just murdered Roy three times over.

Roy sighed when Ed finally shut his mouth and ran a hand through his black hair. "Look, Ed, I know you don't like me and you hate me more now that I've come along. But you need to realize you need the help. You're still just a child."

"You don't know me," Ed growled. "You don't know how old I am or the shit I've seen!"

"I know you're seventeen," Roy replied, fixing Ed with a stern look. "And you're right; I don't know one bit of what you've seen in those seventeen years. But if you'd relent some power to adults every now and then, then we would be able to help you. Then we'd understand." It was like a father lecturing to his son.

"Screw you," Ed muttered, his eyes darkening.

"Do you not want help? Is that it, Ed?" Roy asked.

Ed didn't reply.

"Do you think no one would help you, Ed?" Roy tried again.

Again, there was no reply.

"Tell me, Edward... are you _afraid_ of asking for help?"

"Why the hell would I be afraid of that?!" Ed shouted.

"Answer my question," Roy said calmly.

"Fuck you," Ed growled again.

"No thanks," Roy replied smartly before turning serious again. "Why are you so cold to everyone and everything? Is there no room in your life for anyone other than your brother?" Wait, what was he saying?

"Why the hell would you want to know?!"

"Because I want to _help_ you, Edward," Roy admitted honestly.

Ed's deep cold gaze shot out like icy daggers into Roy's warm, charcoal eyes. It was a silent fight between fire and ice. They both had stopped speaking and were now just staring. The icy sheet over Ed's eyes was slowly melting away with the stern stare from Roy's fiery ones.

Ed looked away before the ice melted completely. "Yeah, right."

"Would I say it if it weren't true?" Roy asked.

"Yes," came Ed's automatic reply.

Roy sighed. "Believe me, Edward. I truly do want to help you. All I ask is that you tell me what's wrong."

"Nothing's wrong," Ed said, tilting his head so his shielded eyes once more drove daggers against Roy's chest.

"Then why are you so cold to everyone you meet?" Roy asked.

Ed made a move, looking as if he were going to leave in the next second, but Roy grabbed the automail wrist again and trapped Ed between him and the doorframe. Not caring about how awkward the situation was, he stared deep into the teenager's eyes again. In a second, the icy shield was gone. Roy's intense stare did not waver. "Why can't you open up to us?"

For a moment, it looked as if Ed wasn't going to answer. Then he opened his mouth and muttered something. Something that made everything click into place. Something that shouted to Roy what Ed's attitude was all about.

"Because then everyone will die."


	13. Chapter 13

**A/N:** Umm... don't shoot me? D:

**Recommended listening:** _Still I'm Sad _performed by _Gregorian: Masters of Chant_

Metal Heart

Chapter Thirteen

"What?"

Roy stared incredulously at the blond teenager, who had given up fighting against Roy's strong grip – for now, anyways – and just slumped against the door frame. There were darkening bags under Ed's eyes and he looked as if he hadn't slept at all; his hair was ruffled from thrashing about earlier, his skin was paler than Roy remembered, and it wasn't until just recently that Roy realized how thin the boy was. He wasn't anorexic by any means, but he was still on the frail side. A strong woman, he would normally say, but Ed's defiance was greater than a woman's. Perhaps that was what intrigued him?

He didn't have time to think about it.

"Edward, tell me again," Roy said slowly, dragging on every word and noticing how each of his words caused the teenager to flinch. "Why can't you open up to us?"

Those bullion eyes glared through him again as they met his coal fire ones. For a moment, the thought of how beautiful and intense those eyes were crossed Roy's mind and he almost forgot what he had asked, but then he remembered and continued to stare, hoping to get Ed speaking again.

Ed let out a shaky breath and said in a deadpan voice, "Because then everyone will die." He moved again, less of a struggle and more so to get away from the door frame so his back would stop shouting at him about being so uncomfortable. But Roy would hardly let him move and he scowled for a moment before making a noise sounding oddly like a grumble under his breath. "Don't you get it yet? You can't get involved any more than you have! In case you haven't noticed, we both nearly died and it was thanks to your own stick-up-your-ass attitude that got you involved! And besides... " Ed looked as if he were groping for the right answer. The right words. Something to say just to get it all out. "You wouldn't want someone breathing down your neck, asking to know everything about you so casually! What makes you think you'd understand anything!?"

The boy panted slightly from the outburst and he turned his head away, attempting to calm himself. He hadn't made his point. He couldn't convey his emotions well now. He was ill. And he knew this.

Something in Roy's head rang a bell. It was a loud noise in the back of Roy's head. It kept on ringing and ringing, reminding him of something he didn't know a thing about. It was the way Ed articulated himself that made the bell go off like a call for the morning masses. Something that made Roy... _feel_.

Was Ed actually worried about him, after all? It seemed like a ridiculous thought. Something so far-fetched, it made Roy _want_ to believe it. Just for the sake in believing what he didn't think was entirely probable. But that wasn't the kind of man he normally was. Then again, he had changed significantly since he had followed Ed out on his journey. He didn't believe in Homunculi, but Ed had nearly died because of one. He believed that _now_. So what had changed him to want to believe in such a ridiculous thought all of a sudden? That Ed actually cared about what happened to him?

Such a strange thing to think about, anyway.

"Can you let go of me now?" The question was quiet – too quiet – against the night air and it led the remains of warmth to dissipate in a ball of faded fog after the words were spoken. Though they were in a normally warm area during the day, the nights got cold. It was cold tonight, too.

Roy looked down at Ed for a moment, as if contemplating what to do. The blond's head was down, the side bangs hiding his eyes in shadow and he looked as if he were going to collapse. In fact, Roy's grip was probably the only thing keeping him up and Ed just wouldn't admit it. The shoulders were no longer erect and proud; they were slumped and it added more to Ed's obvious fatigue that was never spoken of.

Slowly, Roy began to loosen his grip, but at the same time, he put a hand under Ed's chin and tilted that gentle head up. There was only a reminder of the hateful stares left in Ed's painted metal eyes and for a moment, Roy thought they flickered with something akin to a child's fear. But then it was gone. Was Ed truly so afraid? Or had Roy mistaken Ed's arrogant aggressiveness? Was it fear? Or was it something else?

It seemed like hours they stood there, just staring. There were no glares and soon neither pair of eyes were analyzing the other like an artifact put on display. There was just those stares. It was as if they were communicating without speaking. There seemed to be a compromise between them that hadn't been there before. Something... understanding about it all.

Slowly, Roy led Ed's hand down back to his side, but neither gaze was broken. The hand under Ed's chin went up and rested on the side of his face and Roy's other hand released the captive wrist. And had they moved closer? Perhaps. Neither could really tell, nor did they care. Their faces were closer than they normally allowed, but nothing happened. Those eyes just kept on staring, occasionally blinking to freshen the gentle looks. There truly was an unspoken agreement between the two. Neither truly knew what it was, but they knew it was all right and they could live by it. If they survived the journey.

An inch closer and Roy could feel the teen's cool breath fanning his cheek. Ed could feel Roy exhale against his own face, the breezy caress warm and somewhat... comforting. The hand on Ed's cheek trailed down to his neck and rested on one weakened shoulder. Ed's metal arm came up and the fingers hesitantly clenched the fabric of Roy's shirt, lightly as if he would rip it should he grip any harder. Roy pulled Ed against him and for a moment, time had stopped.

The hands on Ed's shoulders kept steady and warm. The fabric of Roy's shirt was soft to the blond's jaded conscious. The man was a head taller, and while that would've inflamed Ed before, he didn't care right now. His flesh hand rose to grip Roy's sleeve.

An extension.

A lifeline.

A question that Roy knew he couldn't answer.

His hands slid down to Ed's back and kept him steady, as if he actually were going to collapse any moment. The boy did not cry or shake to show his emotional weariness; he just stood there. Roy did not mind, truly, and wondered if what he had thought earlier to be "love at first sight" was merely a leap he had made spontaneously and instead forgot to focus on the paternal relationship they seemed to have developed. The odds of that were slim, though.

There was just _something_ about Ed that intrigued Roy beyond anything. He still wasn't sure what it was, but it made it seem as if he had more of a paternal relationship with the teenager. There was something beyond it. The idea of being only an authoritative parent-like figure in Ed's life was... unappealing, to say the least. Roy was not Ed's father and he didn't plan on becoming it. He might remind Ed that adults needed an understanding of how his youth thought in order to help, but at the same time, he would understand Ed's insistence on not being treated like a child. He was seventeen, after all. Almost very much an adult. His assertiveness was something to be questioned, though.

* * *

"Oi. Get up, you weakling!"

Al felt something hard and firm smack him across the cheek, effectively waking him up as pain bloomed across his face and his neck muscles stretched until they popped. A soft cry exploded from Al's mouth at the action and it didn't take him long to realize the... _thing_ that had spoken had kicked him across the face.

"Leave the kid alone." Was that Marta? He couldn't tell. With one eye closed – the eye on the side of the face he had been hit – Al desperately peered through the darkness to see the even darker shadow of the being standing before him and Marta kneeling more towards her. A flash of pale yellow teeth caught Al's eye. When he blinked, Marta was being held up by her short hair and she was gritting her teeth as she rattled her chain, attempting to get free long enough to knock whoever was holding her out.

"Marta!" Al called to her, only to hear his voice choke as he coughed, tasting a familiar copper flavor on top of his saliva.

"So aggressive for a woman," the being sneered before throwing her against the wall and pinning her there by the neck. For a moment, Marta choked, shocked by the attack. Then she stretched herself a little to get air, but it didn't last long as the being pushed more firmly against her throat, keeping her pinned. And cutting off her air supply. "You need to learn your place. You're not even human anymore."

Without another word, the being dropped Marta to the ground, where she hacked out a cough, holding her probably bruised throat. The being turned and approached Al, kneeling down before him and putting what felt like a cold claw under his chin, forcing his throbbing head up. "I can't believe you're still resisting." There was an undertone of surprise in the voice, but it was too subtle; Al almost missed it. "You have a fire in your eyes..."

Al did. Those deep eyes were rimmed with fire, the earthly discs of golden grounds consumed by the flames of defiance. Earlier, the same eyes had been doused with water and they were drowning in despair and sorrow. Now... now they were blazing with an intense heat and they tore at the being without touching, yet their energy flew out from beyond Al's irises, burning what they could reach.

The being growled and broke the gaze by smacking Al across the face. In the same spot. A cry erupted from behind Al's lips as his headache grew worse and a trickle of blood flowed from the corner of his mouth. There was also a minor sting. The _thing_ had cut his face. He felt something akin to a tear dribbling down his cheek, but ignored it for the sake of still looking defiantly at the being, despite how hard it was to see in the dark.

The next thing Al knew, he was being hauled to his feet by two other people – he wasn't sure whether they were monsters or humans – and felt himself being pushed forward towards the door, from which flooded light that was dim, hardly considered such. For a moment, Al's mouth went dry and then a feeling settled on his heart. A feeling of fear. Dread.

For a second or for a millennium – he wasn't sure which – something stopped. He didn't think it was his heart. He knew it wasn't his brain. But something, deep inside him, under tissue and muscles, rushing through his veins and filling his lungs like the very air he breathed... something stopped. The world was no longer color, but in golden tones. Then in black and white. Things seemed to meld together to create a grey hue and whatever stopped within him, it caused Al to suddenly shake.

Then something started again. And time flowed. Color came back in Al's vision and he was being hauled by the shoulders out of his cell. He could hear Marta calling behind him, but he had no energy to even _try_ to reassure her.

"If you so much as pluck a strand of hair off his head, you're dead! Do you hear me!? Dead! I'll never forgive you if you hurt him!" The obscenities and threats Marta shrieked thereafter as her hands tried to bend the bars to the cage fell on deaf ears and Al couldn't even muster up the strength to turn back and give her his trademark sad smile to tell her without words that he would be all right.

Pain was everywhere as Al was pushed the short distance out of the room where he was caged into a much larger room with more extravagant furnishings. Desks of maple wood carved with ancient runes that the young boy could not read decorated three corners of the room. The floor was tile with a long blue carpet that rolled out in the middle, meeting his feet that ached inside his boots. The ceiling – at least two or three stories above him – was decorated with paintings of the Zukon clan fighting the other land tribes, wielding brimstone and sulfur, raining flaming arrows upon their enemies. At the end of the room, adjacent to a set of double wood doors – a tad worn with age – sat a chair... no, a _throne_ and upon that throne sat a man who faced Al with contempt and annoyance.

Al's eyes widened as he was pushed closer and then onto the floor, bending on wounded knees, and he told himself to look up. His courage was failing him, but he somehow turned his face up. His lips parted and out flew a small noise of surprise.

The face that should be twisted into a sad smile not so much different from his own looked down upon him.

"Y-you are..."

* * *

Ed suddenly shivered and he pushed himself out of Roy's embrace, looking down at the ground. Something had hit him in the back of the head. So to speak. His body trembled a little and he whipped his head around, looking across the quiet landscape around them, tense once more.

Roy turned his dark gaze to him. "Ed, what's wrong?" His hands remained on Ed's shoulders.

"I thought... I felt something," the blond muttered, the wind catching his loose hair. The teenager felt the older man's gaze on him and he shifted from foot to foot, reflecting a slight nervousness at the feelings. "Like something called me."

Roy tilted his head at the boy, raising an eyebrow, facial features expressing only skepticism but then clearing as the king remembered that yes, this was Ed and whenever stuff happened, it always involved Ed. At least, now it did. Roy gave Ed's shoulder a gentle squeeze. "Come on. You should get some sleep."

Normally Ed would've brushed him off. Normally Ed would've shouted or thrown a tantrum or something, something to give indication of his rebellious nature. But not this time. This time Roy was right and they both knew it. So as Ed turned away from Roy to venture back inside the small building from whence he had come from, Roy followed suite and closed the makeshift door behind them.

Now Roy knew.

Floccinaucinihilipilification. The action of estimating something and deeming it 'worthless'.

That was going to pose a problem later... if Roy's logic was correct.


End file.
